Hurting Hearts and Struggling Souls - Part 3

Emotions are a normal part of the way God made man; based on biblical examples, even strong emotions are not unexpected abnormalities. Some emotional responses are negative or unpleasant. By providing support and comfort, God can help His children during times when those undesired emotions are legitimately prompted. With His transforming power, He can change His children when the emotions are not spiritually appropriate. These truths are encouraging, but they may leave someone with an important and glaring question: How?

How does God change undesirable, immature, or ungodly expressions of emotion? Does someone just hope that someday it might happen? Is it a supernatural act that God will do if and when He decides the time is right? Is change guaranteed at some point? Does the individual believer bear some responsibility? Can a person do anything to change his emotional responses? The passages from Psalms that were shared in the previous posts provide answers; they share truth about how emotions can be mastered, controlled, and changed.

Several of the psalms that speak about changes and improvement regarding emotions attribute the change to the work of God. Whether recounting what has already happened or what is expected to happen, credit is given to God. For example, "You have put," "You will strengthen," "You have given," "You will make him," "He restores," "Your rod and staff," "You have turned," "You have known," "The LORD ... saves," "He will give," "His song," "He knows," "He will sustain," "He has done," "God makes," "Your consolations," "He has satisfied," "He has filled," "You have rescued," "You will enlarge," "Your word has revived," "You made me," and "He heals."

This does not mean that man has no part in adjusting his emotions, but it does mean that such change is never an independent effort. Man may work for improvement, which is possible through the enabling grace of God, but man must depend on God and draw from His strength. Any change is ultimately God's work.

God can increase the capacity of one's heart. It is not uncommon to speak of someone's having a small or shriveled heart, possessing little capacity to love or feel or be devoted. This heart is narrow, self-centered, and limited. It may be restricted in its ability to feel positive emotions, to express them, or to show them deeply. "You will enlarge my heart" (Psalm 119:32). God can broaden or widen the confines of the heart, making it like a bountiful, roomy pasture. In this particular verse, the heart is limited in its capacity to be devoted to God's commandments, but God changes that. He makes the heart larger so it has greater capacity to follow His way. Now the man can run in God's way, not limited and not fettered. Surely God who can expand the heart to follow Him more passionately can also broaden the heart to express other emotions that are pleasing to Him.

A few verses later, the same psalmist prays, "Incline my heart to Your testimonies" (Psalm 119:36). The heart naturally wants certain things and resists others. In this verse, the psalmist is concerned that his heart naturally wants to pursue dishonest gain, profiting at the expense of others. He doesn't want his heart to go in that direction, but he needs God's help to change. The psalmist asks God to incline his heart to His testimonies. He wants God to bend or turn his heart in a godly direction. This is an example of how man, even when he wants to do the right thing, is powerless to make himself do it. In fact, he may not even want to do right. When it comes to the heart, man is dependent on God to change his direction and help him do and be what does not come naturally.

In Psalm 55, David reveals the same truth. He speaks of pressure, trouble, anguish, terror, trembling, and horror. He longed to escape from the oppression that gripped his heart, from the hurt of betrayal, and from the disappointment of abandonment by others. In the end, David couldn't physically escape, so he turned to the only source that could help him. "Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken" (55:22). He called out repeatedly to God, knowing that God would save him. "Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, and He will hear my voice" (55:17). The burden was too great for David himself. At best, David's friends were unable or unconcerned to help; many of them were actually contributing to the problem. David turned to the only effective source; he looked to God, knowing that God could help his hurting heart and uphold him in his struggle.

In Psalm 73, Asaph was painfully aware of his own frailty. He came very close to slipping and to counting his following of God as a waste. He was tempted to spout out words that would have been highly inappropriate, and he acted like a beast before God. He experienced bitterness and inner pain. Through his experience Asaph learned that he did not have strength in himself; his heart was weak and prone to failure. When he was struggling and in need of help, Asaph had to turn to God. "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (73:26). God was the strength of his heart. When Asaph realized how much he needed God to help his naturally weak heart, it is no wonder that he cried out, "Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth" (73:25). Asaph could not pull himself up. He couldn't be tough and push through. He couldn't be stronger than his circumstances. On his own, he was capable only of failure, but God strengthened him. Like these men, believers today must depend utterly on God.