Devotion: Emotions

Every Monday we take turns at the flight training centre to share a short devotion to start the week. This week it was my turn, and this is what I shared:

A few weeks ago I had issues with Microsoft OneDrive on my computer at work. I had been compiling worked examples for a series of briefings to help students prepare for their CPL performance and planning exam. One day I came to work on it only to discover that I could not access the folder where they were stored. Our IT guy had a look at it and said that the file had been corrupted on my local drive; the following week he reset the connection and told me that although the folder was now accessible, the files were probably lost. It had been a particularly long day but just before I went home I logged in for a quick look - and there were my files, in exactly the same state I remembered leaving them! I sent a quick text to a couple of people who had shown concern for my plight, saying, "Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost files!"

Reflecting on the turn of events, I could see how I had experienced several stages of grief: initial disbelief and shock that 3 weeks' worth of work was gone; an acute sense of loss; regret (if only I had saved a copy somewhere else, or printed it out); anger; and finally resignation that I would have to start again from the beginning. But then utter elation when it reappeared.

The incident was a stark reminder of how fickle our emotions can be, and how happiness depends on our circumstances. In contrast to this, our faith in God should not be driven by our emotions, but on what He has told us in His Word. If we feel unworthy or forgotten by God, we must remind ourselves that He loves us (Rom. 8:39) and He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5). We must choose to believe what the Bible says: that we have forgiveness from God (1 John 1:9), acceptance from Him (1 Pet. 2:9), that all things will ultimately work together for good (Rom. 8:28), that God is continually sanctifying us (Phil. 1:6), that Jesus is coming back (Matt. 16:27, Rev. 22:12).