Though daily Bible reading lends itself to thoughts to post, somehow it seems right to post the Scriptures I’m reading to found the thoughts I have.  If there are errors in my reasoning, then perhaps reading them to myself will show me.  If not, perhaps a reader may be led by the Spirit to present a correct perspective.  But if there are errors, then the thoughts would not be ‘inspired’.  Then, if there is ‘inspiration’, where does the ‘inspiration’ come from?  Luther or Graham or Daniels or perhaps the Holy Spirit?  How many ‘thoughts’, ‘perspectives’, and/or ‘inspirations’ come from personal feelings?  So how many ‘great ideas’ have been propounded from pulpits (or blogs or journals) came from someone exploring personal feelings?  Then the Bible says that personal feelings (man’s heart or wherever is the seat of his emotions) is very deceitful.  It doesn’t say that people can’t learn to ‘analyze’ feelings or ‘analyze’ what they study without involving ‘feelings’ or ‘emotions’.  And it certainly doesn’t teach that one may not be ‘inspired’ by someone truly great or even the Holy Spirit.  Then again, one can learn from emotions something about the world that others may not readily see unless they had experienced the same emotions, and even then, one can have similar emotions, but see them differently because of different life experiences.

So, it would certainly seem that we should study the Bible sometimes while blocking all of our emotions as best as possible to see what is actually said, rather than read into it something that may not be there; and sometimes perhaps we should study the Scriptures with our emotions to see what may apply to the emotions we experience.  Where are we left?  If we hear a sermon (or read a feeble journal post, such as this) how much trust should we put in what is said considering we may not be aware of how much it may have been the result of faulty, distorted emotions?  That is why we may learn much from what others say or teach, but never just accept what is said without searching for yourself if it is true.  Or is this just another way for me to say don’t believe anything I say, but if it leads you to search for truth, then at least the search is there.  Or what did God mean when He said through Isaiah that we would search for Him, and find Him when we search with all our hearts.  That means someone else’s search will not be your own discovery until you search for it yourself, and find it for yourself.  Just remember, when we search with all our hearts, we mustn’t forget how deceitful our own hearts can be.

Our hearts can be pulled by so many different situations, some joyful, some perplexing, and some very hurtful.  So we must remember that we do not have a High Priest Who has not been touched by our sorrows.  Now consider if our Lord can hurt for us for so many of our hurts (don’t you believe it hurts Him to see you hurting), then when we are prone to ask who could possibly know how much I hurt, can we not see that the One Who will never leave us can feel how much we hurt, because He is going through it with us?  So consider how much it would hurt if you felt your own hurts (which may seem nearly unbearable) and wander how much would it hurt if I felt someone else’s hurts on top of my own hurts.  Oh, though that may seem impossible, but then consider how many people in this world who are hurting, and the same Lord Who is going through our hurt with us, is also going through those of so many others at the same time.  How marvelous!  How wonderful!  Is my Savior’s love for me!

What?  Sound unreasonable?  What if someone you love very much is hurting very much (say if you have a child, you could understand this more easily)?  Do you not hurt intensely to see them hurt?  Does it not seem unreasonable that your Savior, Who loves you so very much and is not untouched by your hurts, would likewise hurt to see you hurt?

Suppose the hurt (say your child) is going through seems to go on and on.  Then as you hurt for your child, do you not eventually become impatient?  Then it builds to frustration?  Then it turns to anger at whatever seems to be the cause of the hurt?  So how difficult does it become to turn hurts over to the Lord, when we seem so unlikely to let them go?  Apply this thought to people you know and then consider, “How much would it hurt me to see them hurt,” and perhaps use this as a gauge to form some idea of how strong is your love for them.

Then we have to decide how much of love is genuine, and how much is love based on self-love.  Do you love someone for how much you may suppose they could be of worth to you, or do you consider how much you could be worth to them?  If they were there for you when you needed them, then would they still be worth that much when you feel you no longer need them?  Then how much would you be willing to be there for them when they need you?

Then, do you ever feel that no one really needs you, or perhaps they only need you when they need something from you?  Then does not the Lord, Who searches our hearts, not know if we only feel we love Him when we need something from Him, then if we feel we have all we need, we seem to forget Him?  Does that not hurt Him to see us act as though we do not need Him unless we need something from Him?  Or do we even care about His feelings when we forget how much we need Him?  Or do we just suppose that He doesn’t have any real feelings?

Read the prophets and wander what went through our Lord’s mind when He referred to His people as though they were prostitutes that He took care of, and then they went off and chased after other ‘gods’.  Was He not affected by hurt when He saw the people He loves act this way?  Have you ever done something for someone you loved, and then watched them turn around and treat someone else who didn’t help them better than they treated you?  Then will not the Lord remember in judgment those who come to Him when they ‘need’ and then after they ‘have’ they run to someone else, and seem to make Him less important that others?  Do you still not believe that a Lord who has so much love can feel your hurts, and that He doesn’t hurt if you treat Him as a second class citizen?  What does the Bible really mean when it says do not ‘grieve’ the Spirit?

Believe it or not, these thoughts came to me considering my Bible reading on where the teachers asked Jesus about marriage and divorce.  Jesus taught that God’s will did not allow for divorce but that divorce was allowed for the ‘hardness’ of man’s heart (remember earlier I reminded you how the Scriptures teach that man’s heart is deceitful?).  But what God has joined together, let not man put asunder.  What has God joined together?  Some have said that it was indicated by childbirth, but that is not what the Scriptures teach as when there was God’s wrath on the people who had married outside of God’s will, and many of these marriages had resulted in children (Ezra).

So how many people have joined themselves together without seeking God’s will?  How many people join themselves together for selfish reasons?  Do you consider if your spouse hurts, does it hurt you, as it would if your child was hurt?  Does your spouse hurt if you are hurt?  But of course if two were truly made “ONE”, as in God’s description of marriage, then one spouse couldn’t hurt without the other feeling hurt, otherwise, where would be there oneness?  So how many people, as in Ezra, are under God’s wrath because they are with someone who God didn’t truly join together?  But I can’t tell anyone else what to do.  If people choose to join themselves together without God’s blessing, then what can I do except pray for them while we wait for God to show forth His wrath.

Why would one passage go to so many thoughts?  Well, like so many people in this world, I’ve seen so many even in my own family become torn to pieces by so many divorces and remarriages.  How many families on this planet have seen so much of the same?  So again do we not feel hurt when we see others we care about hurt?  Before marriage, do people consider if they hurt for the hurts of their fiancés, and vice versa?  Do they consider if their own feelings or perhaps the feelings of the other may be overly involved with selfish feelings?  Just something to think about.