Raw Nerves Of The Soul

Raw Nerves of the Soul

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

Psalm 137:1

IN WORD The captive Jews could not sing. Their city—their lives—lay in ruins at the hands of the Babylonians. Now they were slaves in a foreign land. All those promises from God about establishing Jerusalem forever seemed tragically obsolete, forfeited by their own disobedience. Did God live in Babylon? They weren’t sure. He seemed so far away. And there was no song left for them to sing.

Psalm 137 is a lament by someone whose life had been struck by catastrophe. All seemed lost; hopelessness and despair had set in. There is anger in this psalm, along with disappointment and frustration. And bitterness—perhaps the most brutal emotion a human being can have. Bitterness obsesses about what could have been and despairs that it now isn’t even possible. It eats away at all sense of hope and leaves us feeling awfully hollow.

Emotions are one of humanity’s most powerful attributes. They can incite a crowd, sway a nation, distort our values, affect our decisions, inspire great works of art, and move us to serve God and others. They can have both positive and negative implications—even simultaneously. And the Bible is an emotional book. There is joyful dancing before the Lord, loud lament over broken lives, and everything in between. There is no hint in God’s revelation that He desires sterile, calculated religion. We were created as beings of passion.

IN DEED Are you emotional before God? He put this bitter psalm and others into His Word, and its raw nerves are unashamedly bared in His presence. Clearly, it is okay with Him for us to dance, to lament, to weep, to laugh, to be excited, to be moody—to express whatever our hearts are feeling. Does He want us to be ruled by such moods? Of course not. But if we have them, He wants us to be honest about them—just as the writer of Psalm 137 was.

Take whatever emotions you have into the presence of God. It doesn’t matter how raw they are. Sincerity honors His grace. There’s healing in our honesty before Him.

You cannot have real religion without emotion.

—DONALD GEE