We all have strong feelings. Our emotions help us as we experience the world around us. Emotions give depth to life. Our existence would be drab without emotions. The Bible clearly states that we have a multitude of emotions: joy, grief, anger, fear, and love, which are all an integral part of our lives. Some of these emotions are alarms indicating that we need a change in our lives.
There is something problematic, and there needs to be a course correction.
Anger, for instance, is a call to action; it is a motivating emotion so that we are not idle when we experience injustice. Sometimes, we are unsure how to express these unresolved issues. This is most evident with our children.
Enter the temper tantrum. When one of my boys does not feel heard, they respond in an emotion-fueled way. Maybe they were asked to clean their room and would rather play, or they would like to skip dinner and go straight to dessert. Sometimes, it is more egregious, like their brother hit them, and they were the ones caught retaliating, and their initial slight was unrepresented. And so, they lash out in anger—emotions are a powerful way to get someone else’s attention.
This past weekend, our family went to Leslie Groves Park. The boys had spent over an hour building a large reservoir. And in one dramatic event, Milo kicked through the retaining wall, releasing a torrent of water… the other boys were horrified. And the screaming ensued. I am sure if you were in a 10-mile radius on Friday morning, you could hear their screams of terror. Although it was unpleasant and the result was undesired, there was no way to undo it. It happened. We could rebuild and fill it with water, but it would not be the same as what they had built. So, they screamed out in frustration.
We use these outbursts in an attempt to control the situation. Whenever I am dealing with one of my children in the midst of a tantrum, I try to recognize what they are trying to control. Sometimes, they want to change my opinion or instruction. Sometimes, they are dissatisfied with the way their brothers treat them. Although they can’t verbalize it, they think it will improve their situation if they scream, pout, or even become unresponsive. Yet we all know that tantrums don’t fix anything; they only make it worse… remarkably worse. Therefore, I try to reinforce that although they cannot change the situation, they can control themselves.
Paradoxically, when we control ourselves, we can begin to control the situation. When the world seems to be spinning out of control, the best thing you can do is stop spinning with it. As we read the Bible, we are given two incredible truths. The first is that we discover who is in control.
Hebrews 2:7-9 – “You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now, in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”
Nothing is beyond Jesus’ control, and everything is subject to him. That is a remarkable statement. Even more astonishing is that Jesus achieved this through suffering, which we typically try to avoid. And even though we may not perceive it as such, there will come a day when we know without a doubt that the Son is in control. Christ gained control through total submission and releasing control back to God. The other truth is that through trust in God, we find an anchor and ultimately gain control.
Hebrews 6:17-20 – “So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
Although we might feel like the world is disjointed and we may feel powerless, we might want to kick and scream that we are out of control. We might not be able to verbalize our current frustrations, but… we have an anchor for our souls. We understand that God cannot be moved and that we rest securely in His hands. We take refuge from the chaos around us in the character and power of God. Therefore, we don’t create more dysfunction; we hold fast to the One in control.