In his work on religious affections (desires & emotions of the will), Jonathan Edwards asserts, “True religion, in great part, consists in holy affections” Unfortunately, not all affections are as enjoyable as the one’s we have looked at so far. Life in a fallen world leads us to anger in suffering at times. What does it look like to express these kinds of emotions in a way that honors the Lord and, ultimately, to combat them?

This Week

A lot about dealing with anger in suffering can be learned from the Psalms. While the issue of anger and despair in suffering is not easy, the Psalmist does give us an important insight in Psalm 88.

1. We should never cease to bring our needs to God even when we are to the point of anger and despair.

We all reach points in our lives when we encounter suffering that we simply cannot explain. We begin to despair and ask the question of “Why, God?” For me, this first happened when I was sitting on my couch with my parents at twelve years old and told three of the most ominous words in the english language: “You have cancer.” The despair that comes from moments like that in our lives can quickly turn to anger because we don’t understand why God would allow something like this.

Rather than bottling up their feelings, the Psalmists—both here in Psalm 88 and in many others—actually express their anger and despair. The great danger is not expressing our “wrong” emotions to God but rather avoiding going to him at all. Instead of cutting ourselves off from God because we feel distant or angry at Him, we must respond like the Psalmist in 88:1-2—“O Lord, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry!”

Remind yourself of the truth of the Gospel and cry out in desperation for God to hear. Never cease to go to God in prayer. Even in the darkest of moments, he uses the grace of prayer to heal our hearts and restore our faith.

“True religion, in great part, consists in holy affections”
-Jonathan Edwards

This Week

The Psalms express and teach us a lot about love for and satisfaction in God. The Psalmist gives us two important insights in Psalm 116.

1. Love for and satisfaction in God flows from meditating on his saving grace.

The Psalmist spends the first half of this Psalm reflecting on the salvation he experienced by God’s grace. Reflecting on the faithfulness of God’s goodness will ultimately warm our hearts to God and lead us back to finding satisfaction in Him. This is why preaching the gospel to ourselves is such a vital practice. We need to constantly keep our mind’s eye turned toward the salvation that God provides so that we can cultivate a heart that is burning with love for God.

2. Love for God leads to a life of worship and service of God.

After reflecting on his salvation, the writer begins to consider how he should respond. With such love and satisfaction in his heart, he longs to express it in very tangible ways toward God. He has absolutely no notion of earning God’s favor with worship and service, for he recognizes his total helplessness and God’s abundant graciousness. Rather than working for his salvation as in every other religion, he realizes that he simply must respond to his salvation—not because it saves him, but because his heart is overflowing.

Think about it. Anytime we are captivated by someone or something, we long to make it known and to express that love. When I dwell on how amazing my wife is, I immediately begin to think of ways that I can express that: flowers, a date night, etc. This is how our worship and service should be fueled. We don’t do it because we have to, but because we love Him.

So may we be a people that cultivates love for God in such a way that we are characterized by our worship and service of God.

In his work on religious affections (desires & emotions of the will), Jonathan Edwards asserts, “True religion, in great part, consists in holy affections” Unfortunately, not all affections are as enjoyable as the one’s we have looked at so far. Life in a fallen world leads us to legitimate sorrow and melancholy at times. What does it look like to express these kinds of emotions in a way that honors the Lord?

This Week
Let’s look at Psalm 6 and the expression of sorrow that the Psalmist expresses here.

Psalm 6

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.
My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord—how long?

Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?

I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

A lot about dealing with sorrow and pain can be learned from the Psalms. David gives us two important insights in Psalm 6.

1. We should express our sorrow openly and honestly before the Lord.

This can be seen all over the Psalms. We aren’t meant to hold in our sorrow. God has given us much of the Psalms so we can recognize that He longs for us to bring our pain and sorrow to Him. Rather than trying to sort through it on his own, David goes to God in brutal honesty. He’s in deep despair. We’ve all had those moments in our lives when it seems like all hope is lost. Whether all of our friends have seemingly turned their backs on us, or we don’t know how we are going to pay our bills that are piling up, or we can’t even pin down the things that are depressing us, God wants us to lay those things down before Him.

2. We can combat sorrow by expressing it and reminding ourselves of God’s character.

Bringing our sorrows to God is the first step in combating it. The mere act of bringing our sorrows to God is an expression of faith, no matter how weak we may feel it is. It’s a trust that God is the only one that can possibly bear it. But let’s not stop there. We must seek to remind ourselves who God is: gracious (v. 2), loving (v. 4), listening (vv. 8-10). The Holy Spirit works through reminders of God’s character especially as we see them in His Word, and He begins to build our faith and restore our joy.

Our sorrow may not go away overnight, but the greatest truth in all this is that God will ultimately wipe away every tear from our eyes (Revelation 21:4) by the work Jesus did on the cross. May we find hope in the Gospel even in the midst of our sorrows.