Feelings

We all have feelings. We all have emotions. Some run deeper than other and some are just surface level ideologies that you can learn to compartmentalize into nice little neat boxes and forget about for a while. What happens when those feeling overwhelm us and we can’t understand how to cope with them? What happens when we sink so low that we feel abandoned by God? What do we do then? How do we deal with our emotions without allowing them to control us? How do we allow ourselves to properly feel and let go while still praising our creator? Let’s take a close look at the story of Joseph.



Joseph was loved by his father because he was the first born of the woman he worked so hard to marry Rachel.  Out of 12 brothers, he was the favorite. Because he was the favorite, his brothers were jealous. Then one day, Joseph told his brothers about a dream he had about his brothers bowing down to him. This put his brothers a little over the edge. He then told his brothers another dream about them and their father all bowing down to him. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back.



So when the brothers went off to tend to the livestock and left Joseph behind, Joseph’s father sent Joseph after them. His brothers plotted to kill him but instead sold him into slavery at the age of 17. Genesis 39:1-2 explains “When Joseph was taken in Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The Lord was with Joseph so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master.



So imagine being 17, you aren’t even legally an adult yet and you are sold by your brothers into slavery. You are abandoned. You are shown no love, no mercy, and no grace by your brothers. You are sold. I am pretty sure your emotions would be running pretty wild there. I am pretty sure you would be feeling some pretty strong feelings that wouldn’t quite make sense and you would be wondering why, how, what just happened? Yet in verse 2 it says the Lord was with Joseph and he succeeded in everything he did.



How could this be that something terrible happens to Joseph and he is lower than low, and yet the Lord is with him? How could this be part of the plan?



The story of Joseph continues to where Joseph is falsely accused of rape and is sentenced to prison for an unspecified amount of time. What do you think crossed Joseph’s mind? Do you think he was happy to be there or do you think he was trapped, yet again, in his feelings and his emotions? Yet in Genesis 39:21 it says “But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden.” So then Joseph goes on to interpret two men’s dreams and asks the man he helps to remember him, and that man doesn’t remember him until two years later.



Can you imagine sitting in a prison cell for two years and still praising and believing in God and serving Him and realizing He has a bigger purpose for your life? Two years is a very long time, and it would be a very hard season to cope with and yet Joseph did. He remained faithful.

Two years passes and the Pharaoh needs Joseph to interpret a dream and the man Joseph helped in prison remembers Joseph and after Joseph interprets the dream Joseph is finally made the right hand of Pharaoh and he becomes part of the bigger picture that God has shaped him for this whole entire time. He couldn’t see it in the beginning. He couldn’t see it at 17 when he was sold into slavery. He couldn’t see it when he was falsely accused and sent into prison. But he can see it now.



Romans 8:18 says “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later”



Steve Jobs gave an amazing commencement speech about dropping out of college only to drop back into college to audit classes that he was interested in and he took a calligraphy class that would become the design of the Macintosh computers. He also talked about getting fired at the age of 30 only to launch a dominating field called Pixar which is world renowned now. It wasn’t until after he looked back on his life that he could connect the dots and see how things happened for a reason. He couldn’t see it as it was happening but he could see it now.



Genesis 41:51-52 explains how grieved Joseph was about the situation because he even named his son Manasseh which means God has made me forget all my troubles and everyone in my father’s family. So you can see there that Joseph was not unaffected by what happened to him. He was completely affected. He had emotions. We are all humans and we all have emotions. It is what we chose to do with our emotions.



In Genesis 45:8 after Joseph was reunited with his brothers and he unveiled who he was to then Joseph says to “So it was God who sent me here, not you! And He is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh- the manager of his entire palace and the governor of Egypt." He explains that it was part of Gods ultimate plan



Habakkuk is another man we can look at, God says to him in Chapter 1:5 “Look around the nations, look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t even believe even if someone told you about it” And God was talking about the Babylonians taking over and sending the Israelites into a 70 year exile. But take a look at this redemptive Psalm.



Psalm 126 is beautiful it goes like this:

When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem

It was like a dream!

We were filled with Laughter,

And we sang for joy.

And the other nations said,

“What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”

Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!

What joy!

Restore our fortunes, Lord

As streams renew the desert

Those who plant in tears

Will harvest with shouts of joy,

They weep as they go to plant their seed,

But they sing as they return with the harvest



It all works out in Gods beautiful and mysterious plan. We don’t know why things happen the way they do. We don’t know or understand why we have to face hardships or loss. We don’t understand the sovereignty of God sometimes, but we have to believe and trust that it is all for the purpose of a bigger picture.



Even when we look at the story of Naomi and Ruth. Naomi changed her name. Ruth 1:20-21” Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?” Naomi, was so caught up in her emotions that she changed her name. She had lost all hope and she was in a deep and dark place, she thought God had turned her back on her.



All the men in Naomi’s life passed away leaving her with no one except for one daughter in law who said I will stay with you and your people will be my people and your God will be my God. That was Ruth. By the end of the book of Ruth, Naomi was restored. In Ruth 4:16 “Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own.” That baby was the blood line of Jesus.



God took a hopeless situation, filled with doubt, disbelief, emotions and bitterness and he turned it around. He used Ruth to help, but he turned it around none the less. He had a bigger picture in mind that Naomi couldn’t even see because she was stuck in her emotions.

When you are stuck in your emotions it clouds your mind and it clouds your judgement. You throw yourself a pity party and fail to see the bigger picture of what God is trying to do in your life. Although you may not like what is happening, it is happening for a reason. He is shutting some doors and opening others and it is all intended to serve a higher purpose than one you can see right now with your own eyes but when you look back on your life you will begin to see how all the little dots connected to bring you to where you are at today.



Lastly, I will leave you with the ultimate emotional experience. One filled with the deepest emotions. Luke 22:42 Jesus is heading towards his final hour and he cries out to God “Father if you are willing please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Jesus knew exactly the suffering He was walking into. He knew what he was about to face, unlike us, He knew. Yet, he understood that what He was about to do was to bridge the gap for us to have a relationship with God and to take away our sins. So he made the ultimate sacrifice.



Emotions are hard. They swing and they sway and sometimes they change as frequently as Virginia weather. Especially if you are going through a very tough season in your life. However, you have to hold on to this promise and never lose sight of it, Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord “They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”