03-19-08 Bible study entitled "Emotions" part 2

[Aspros_Tigris]

<LoOkOuT> Be very desolate,” says the LORD.

<LoOkOuT> 13 “ For My people have committed two evils:

<LoOkOuT> They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,

<LoOkOuT> And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold

<LoOkOuT> no water.

<LoOkOuT> *and delight upon their return to Him
[23:15]
<LoOkOuT> Luke 15:11- 32 ( This is the story of the Prodigal Son )

<LoOkOuT> God's longing for an unhindered relationship with His children is

<LoOkOuT> found all through scripture

<LoOkOuT> Jerimiah 17:9-10

<Tigre_branco> !Nkjv Jerimiah 17:9-10

<TheRanger> Jerimiah 17:9 " The heart [is] deceitful above all [things,] And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

<TheRanger> Jerimiah 17:10 I, the LORD, search the heart, [i] test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

<LoOkOuT> Everyone has thoughts and feelings men and women, boys and

<LoOkOuT> girls, babies. Our personalities are interwoven with an intricate mix

<LoOkOuT> of mind, will, and emotions. to be able to experience pain or joy,

<LoOkOuT> sadness or anger is to feel alive. You do not only do yourself

<LoOkOuT> damage and limit your potential in Christ when you deny or

<LoOkOuT> suppress your emoitions, you reduce your understanding of who

<LoOkOuT> God is.

<LoOkOuT> Emotion-- that is passionate, heartfelt desire -- is a part of

<LoOkOuT> the energy that bonds believers to God and to each other in a rich

<LoOkOuT> meaningful way.

<LoOkOuT> Justice : The Destruction of Innocents

<LoOkOuT> I have heard these stories brought up over and over about how

<LoOkOuT> could God be loving if he told Joshua to kill everyone even the

<LoOkOuT> children .. in this passage of scripture so I'm adding this section since we are discussing some of Gods emotions as well as our own

<LoOkOuT> God's command to destroy everyone in these cities often troubles

<LoOkOuT> modern readers. ( Deuteronomy 7:1-6 ) . Two basic reasons are

<LoOkOuT> given for this command :

<LoOkOuT> 1. the inhabitants had reached the point of no return in their

<LoOkOuT> depravity ( Genesis 6:5-6 )

<LoOkOuT> 5 Then the LORD[a] saw that the wickedness of man was great in

<LoOkOuT> the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was

<LoOkOuT> only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made

<LoOkOuT> man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

<LoOkOuT> 2. if the Israelites lived beside these pagan people , they , too,

<LoOkOuT> would be infected with their wickedness

<LoOkOuT> ( Exodus 34: 12-16 , Deuteronomy 7:4 )

<LoOkOuT> 12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the

<LoOkOuT> inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in

<LoOkOuT> your midst. 13 But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred

<LoOkOuT> pillars, and cut down their wooden images 14 (for you shall

<LoOkOuT> worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a

<LoOkOuT> jealous God),

<LoOkOuT> 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of

<LoOkOuT> the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make

<LoOkOuT> sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of

<LoOkOuT> his sacrifice, 16 and you take of his daughters for your sons, and

<LoOkOuT> his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons

<LoOkOuT> play the harlot with their gods.

<LoOkOuT> 7:4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve

<LoOkOuT> other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you

<LoOkOuT> and destroy you suddenly.

<LoOkOuT> In any case, Joshua was obeying a specific directive from God just

<LoOkOuT> as in the devastation of the flood ( Gen. 7:23 ) and the destruction

<LoOkOuT> of Sodom and Gomorrah ( Gen. 19: 24-25 ) While the loss of

<LoOkOuT> innocent life is always a tragedy, at times only radical action can

<LoOkOuT> save, as would be true with a deadly cancer in the body. We living

<LoOkOuT> on this side of the Cross are much more fortunate and have the

<LoOkOuT> promise of ultimate victory ( Romans 8:31-39 ).

<LoOkOuT> 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who

<LoOkOuT> can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but

<LoOkOuT> delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely

<LoOkOuT> give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s

<LoOkOuT> elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is

<LoOkOuT> Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the

<LoOkOuT> right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who

<LoOkOuT> shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or

<LoOkOuT> distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or

<LoOkOuT> sword?

<LoOkOuT> 36 As it is written:

<LoOkOuT> “ For Your sake we are killed all day long;

<LoOkOuT> We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

<LoOkOuT> 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through

<LoOkOuT> Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor

<LoOkOuT> life, nor angels nor princi pallities nor powers, nor things present nor

<LoOkOuT> things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created

<LoOkOuT> thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in

<LoOkOuT> Christ Jesus our Lord.

<LoOkOuT> They did everything God hated ( Lev. 18: 20-24 ). They even

<LoOkOuT> threw their children into the fire as sacrifices ( Lev. 18:21 , Deut

<LoOkOuT> 12:31 ) This act is a measure of their depravity, for no mother

<LoOkOuT> worthy of the name would willingly part ici pate in the murder of her

<LoOkOuT> own child. God identified the abominations as so detestible that the

<LoOkOuT> land itself was defiled ( Lev. 18:25 ) .

<LoOkOuT> These people had known about God ( Joshua 2 : 8-14 ) .

<LoOkOuT> *Here is just a part of that passage *

<LoOkOuT> “I know that the LORD has given

<LoOkOuT> you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the

<LoOkOuT> inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. 10 For we

<LoOkOuT> have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for

<LoOkOuT> you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two

<LoOkOuT> kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan,

<LoOkOuT> Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we

<LoOkOuT> heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any

<LoOkOuT> more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God,

<LoOkOuT> He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

<LoOkOuT> God had given them hundreds of years to change ( Gen. 15:16 ) .

<LoOkOuT> 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the

<LoOkOuT> iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

<LoOkOuT> The destruction of the Canaanites was not ordered merely to

<LoOkOuT> secure the Land for Israel. God was not , unjust to other nations in

<LoOkOuT> order to reward Israel. The pagan nations were to be destroyed

<LoOkOuT> because of their own wickedness. God is a God of patience and

<LoOkOuT> mercy, but He is also a just God ( Gen. 18:25 ) .

<LoOkOuT> * New International Readers Version =

<LoOkOuT> 25 "You would never kill godly people along with those who are

<LoOkOuT> evil, would you? You wouldn't treat godly and evil people alike.

<LoOkOuT> You would never do anything like that! Won't the Judge of the

<LoOkOuT> whole earth do what is right?"

<LoOkOuT> Sometimes we question God ... as this shows

<LoOkOuT> He does what is right, however it may appear to our finite minds

<LoOkOuT> and limited judgement. He will judge sin because he is holy ( Deut.

<LoOkOuT> 7:10 ; 9:3-5 ) .

<LoOkOuT> 7:10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy

<LoOkOuT> them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay

<LoOkOuT> him to his face.

<LoOkOuT> 9:3 Therefore understand today that the LORD your God is He

<LoOkOuT> who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy

<LoOkOuT> them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out

<LoOkOuT> and destroy them quickly, as the LORD has said to you.

<LoOkOuT> 4 “Do not think in your heart, after the LORD your God has cast

<LoOkOuT> them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the

<LoOkOuT> LORD has brought me in to possess this land’; but it is because of

<LoOkOuT> the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out

<LoOkOuT> from before you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness or the

<LoOkOuT> uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but

<LoOkOuT> because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your

<LoOkOuT> God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the

<LoOkOuT> word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac,

<LoOkOuT> and Jacob.

<LoOkOuT> * God grieved greatly in his heart for the way the people did and

<LoOkOuT> he wanted them to do right he gave them alot of time to do what

<LoOkOuT> was right only they chose not to.

<LoOkOuT> God Loves us SO much he sent his son because He knew it to be

<LoOkOuT> the only way that he could save us and Jesus Loved us so much he

<LoOkOuT> laid down his life willingly for us ... he could have called angels and

<LoOkOuT> saved himself but he didn't HE died for us.

<LoOkOuT> Jesus went through all he did as a man he knows what all our

<LoOkOuT> feelings are like he suffered everything on the cross.

<LoOkOuT> He knows all the emotions and all the pain. Nothing that he doesn't

<LoOkOuT> know.

<LoOkOuT> Pain : Emotional -- In the Depths of Despair

<LoOkOuT> Lack of fulfillment in general and unfulfilled dreams in particular (

<LoOkOuT> prov. 13:12 ) 12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

<LoOkOuT> But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

<LoOkOuT> create emotional pain. Even in the presence of devoted love

<LoOkOuT> sensitive areas in a person's life bring pain when " provoked "

<LoOkOuT> Hannah provides an illustration in ( 1Samuel 1:5-6 )

<LoOkOuT> 5 But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved

<LoOkOuT> Hannah, although the LORD had closed her womb. 6 And her

<LoOkOuT> rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because

<LoOkOuT> the LORD had closed her womb.

<LoOkOuT> *Emotional pain may exhibit itself in weeping, in altered appetite (

<LoOkOuT> 1samuel 1:7 )

<LoOkOuT> 7 So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the

<LoOkOuT> LORD, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat.
[23:38]
<LoOkOuT> * and in changed countenance ( 1Samuel 1:18 ) .

<LoOkOuT> 18 And she said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.”

<LoOkOuT> So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer

<LoOkOuT> sad.

<LoOkOuT> This inward pain is described by the phrase " heart grieved "

<LoOkOuT> (1Samuel 1:8 ) , "bitterness of soul " ( 1Samuel 1:10 ) , and " grief

<LoOkOuT> " ( 1Samuel 1:16 ) .

<LoOkOuT> Emotional pain is often misunderstood by others ( 1Samuel

<LoOkOuT> 1:13-14 ) ,

<LoOkOuT> 13 Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her

<LoOkOuT> voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 So

<LoOkOuT> Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away

<LoOkOuT> from you!”

<LoOkOuT> Job's grief was harder to bear because his friends misunderstood

<LoOkOuT> him. This pain must be "poured out" to the Lord ( 1Samuel 1:15 )

<LoOkOuT> 15 But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of

<LoOkOuT> sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink,

<LoOkOuT> but have poured out my soul before the LORD.

<LoOkOuT> for Christ , has " borne our griefs / And carried our sorrows " (

<LoOkOuT> Isaiah 53:4 )4 Surely He has borne our griefs

<LoOkOuT> And carried our sorrows;

<LoOkOuT> Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

<LoOkOuT> Smitten by God, and afflicted.

<LoOkOuT> , and He does understand. This pain can be shared with someone

<LoOkOuT> He provides who i s willing to listen and give support ( 1 Samuel

<LoOkOuT> 1:16-17 ) ,

<LoOkOuT> That person needs to be a trusted person who has a "faithful spirit.

<LoOkOuT> " ( proverbs 11:13 ) , God's children are to "bear one another's

<LoOkOuT> burdons" ( Galations 6:2 ) , This support provides hope and lifts

<LoOkOuT> sadness ( 1Samuel 1:18) .

<LoOkOuT> A helpful prayer for the person experiencing , emotional pain is

<LoOkOuT> found in Romans 15:13 .

<LoOkOuT> 13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in

<LoOkOuT> believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy

<LoOkOuT> Spirit.

<LoOkOuT> this is all I have at this time on Emotions .........