In the previous article we saw the human intellect ascend the throne in order to reign over the Word of God. But lest we forget, a similar story can be told about human feelings. One would hardly expect that. When we talk about feelings we often think about the closeness of the relationship with God. In our experience they have to do with connection, following, surrender. Whenever coldness and superficiality arise in the church, people rightly ask for faith experience. How this can result in mysticism we have already seen, and we won’t go back to that. But there is also another side. As a reaction against coldness, feelings can easily be seen as the distinguishing mark of the truth.

Human Feeling as Despot⤒🔗

Is it not a bit too severe to mention the word “despot”? When we hear that word we often think of a cruel oppressor, but that is not correct. A despot is someone who alone is the boss. He does not accept that someone besides him has something to say. He alone is boss. The Dutch king Willem I, for example, was such a ruler. He was one of the so-called enlightened despots—kings who did much that was good for their people, but who allowed only servants beside them.

In the same manner can feeling become the absolute ruler in the life of piety. It already plays an important role in pietism, but the German theologian Schleiermacher (1768-1834) made it the only master and lord. This theologian rejected the combination of faith and intellect; he was very much against rationalism. Belief is feeling and experience, he says, the only important thing is the pious heart of the individual human being. True piety, according to Schleiermacher, is: to have a taste for the infinite and a feeling of dependence.

Although they are really opposites, on this point he feels a relationship with Spinoza. Both of them are concerned with the person who seeks “the Eternal.” Both of them altogether ignore the person of the Lord Jesus as the Mediator who takes our place. You see here clearly: whether you place your intellect on the throne or your feelings—it makes little difference. Either way you seek your salvation in a humanistic gospel.

Schleiermacher describes rebirth as the experience of the connection with Christ; Jesus gives us a feeling of redemption. For Schleiermacher the Bible has only inner value and no absolute authority. He also has little use for written confessions but feels that the church must allow a great variety of faith experiences. This of course fits well with the ecumenical thinking of our times.

A Sweet Gospel and a Nice God←⤒🔗

I can place myself above the Word of God not only with my intellect, but also with my feelings. The two are quite close in the biblical humanism of Erasmus. Apparently Erasmus continues to influence people. His views can be recognized not only in the ideas of the Remonstrants and in the humanist Christianity of later centuries; they are still present in our postmodern climate. It even seems that they are becoming more popular again. Ultimately you are autonomous, you are in control of things: that is the essence of the doctrine of the free will. Perhaps you know the proverb wherein the Remonstrants say this:

If humankind does not want it, then God’s grace is absent.
If humankind wants it, then God’s grace proceeds.

Humans control their own salvation. Then you can’t do much with the Christmas song:

I was powerless, tied hand and foot, you came and set me free.

I must recognize the truth of my own powerlessness and that deep-rooted unwillingness of which Paul writes in Romans 7—I must recognize its truth. That is not pleasant for my ego, and it irritates my postmodern heart. But it is the true gospel. And in the end it will give me greater peace than any humanistic message. On this point we agree with Luther! Nothing gives me greater rest than knowing that God’s grace does not depend on my willingness.

I read in the report of a sermon by a popular preacher: “God desires to have a relationship with us. He does not force us but as a gentleman waits until we open our hearts for him.” God as a gentleman, who waits until I am willing. That must be a very nice God.

Fortunately, I thought, fortunately it is not true. Fortunate for King Manasseh that God tied him up in prison to bring him to repentance. Fortunate for Paul that God did not wait but forced him to the ground and told him to become an apostle. Fortunate for old Keith, who mockingly came to our evangelism tent “to hear that group of saints sing hallelujah”—but was hard-handedly seized by God (as he himself put it later). Fortunate all those people who, according to Luke, were found along the “highways and hedges” and forced to enter.

A famous American preacher, who in his television services draws thousands of listeners, put his public at ease on Good Friday: “No one is responsible for the horrible death of Jesus. It was his own decision; it was self-sacrifice!” Well, that is pleasant for humans, isn’t it? Like Pilate, you can wash your hands in innocence! But what about the prophet Isaiah who says that the Messiah was wounded for my transgressions, crushed for my iniquities, and has carried my punishment? And Matthew apparently lies when he says that God lets those who murdered his Son die an evil death. No one responsible for the death of Jesus? How on earth can you say that!

The same minister said that he was enthusiastic about the film “The Passion of the Christ.” He found the film phenomenal! Two hours of blood and violence in extreme form: as if that was the deepest reality of Jesus’ suffering. The minister said that he wanted to see the film three times, because the previous times he had missed all sorts of details. Do you think that mother Mary also would have wished to see Golgotha three times in order to get all the details? Or was the sword through her soul terrible enough that one time? Apparently you can talk about being “enthusiastic” if you find that you are not responsible.

With a sweet gospel and a nice God you can please people for a time and give them good feelings. But it is at the same time a cruel message, for it throws you back on yourself. What can you do with it when you have become old and know that death is near? Or when the doctor tells you that he can’t do anything for you anymore?

The gospel is full of love, and we have a merciful God. That is a hundred percent true. But the Bible says more. Our God is also a devouring fire. The gospel is not only comforting, it also confronts us. It sows a holy unrest in self-satisfied lives. Be grateful that God brings you to the point where you neither want to nor are able to live without him, also when you have to walk in ways that are not pleasant.

With Feelings as Wide as in the Psalms←⤒🔗

I have often heard it said that “a real Christian is a happy Christian.” Happiness and being a Christian are here close to being synonymous: with Jesus you walk in the light. That seems quite biblical. You wander through green pastures and rest beside still waters, for the Lord is your shepherd. There are believers who can say with Habakkuk: I rejoice in the Lord and take joy in the God of my salvation, even when everything is going wrong for me. The joy of faith is a great gift. But it is not so that you can make it the distinguishing mark of piety.

You then draw a very one-sided picture of the relation with God. There are also believers who have different experiences. If you find feelings such an important characteristic of true faith, then you must at least draw a complete picture. Feelings have also their dark colours: sadness about what is missing, the experience of rejection and loneliness, living with a deep sense of guilt and fear. You pass through a valley so dark and deep that even the rod and the staff of the Good Shepherd fail to comfort. You recognize yourself in the complaint of Job that it seems as if God has become your enemy. With such feelings you can also be a true believer, a pious one in the proper sense of the word.

God does not quench the smoldering wick and he does not break the bruised reed. Also the worriers can come to him. Those who are spiritually tired and heavily burdened receive in fact a special invitation to come to him for rest.

Experience of faith is more than being just happy. The psalms give very clear examples. Just read a few in succession. For example, the cheerful Psalm 146 and the very comfortless Psalm 88: a child of God in great happiness and one who can’t discover even the smallest beam of light in his life. You see what the Holy Spirit is telling you here: a pious one in festive clothing does not stand nearer to God than one in sackcloth and ashes. It can even be better to be with a heart in mourning than with one full of festive joy, says the Preacher.

Faith from the Drugstore←⤒🔗

The truth of your faith cannot be measured by how you are feeling, and also not by how much you are feeling. If you think that, you do injustice to all sorts of people and their circumstances.

The first thing to remember is this: God’s children are altogether different. You have people of feeling, people who stress understanding, and people with golden hands. Dreamers, thinkers, and doers. In a class with children you have some of every kind. In a church full of brothers and sisters it is the same. There are people who love to sing about God, others like Bible study, and still others prefer showing their faith by being active.

That is precisely what the Bible says. The body with all its different members: eye and ear, hand and foot, is an image of God’s congregation. Each person is unique in how he was created and also in the gifts the Spirit gives him. When the Lord Jesus explains the great commandment, you hear the same. You have to love God, he says, not only with your heart but also with your mind; yes, with your entire being.

Today we like to use the word authentic. It means: real, genuine. You are as you do and you do as you are. Without frills and hodge-podge. Faith in the sense of piety is also authentic. You can’t imitate others in your way of believing. Faith is interwoven with your own personality. You stand in your own unique manner in relation with God. You can compare it with being married. How you stand over against each other in marriage and how you experience your relationship also can’t be learned by imitating others.

An elementary school placed an advertisement in the newspaper for a teacher. Among the requirements was the following: “You have a living relationship with the Lord, you can radiate!” The distinguishing characteristic of a living faith is sought, quite one-sidedly, in the expression of your face. There are also unbelievers who radiate a cheerfulness that can make a Christian envious. And on the other hand, there are true children of God who are by nature introvert, shy and inward-focused. May not the reality of your faith also appear from your lifestyle and your earnestness instead of your broad smile?

In your relationship with God you are simply yourself. Perhaps you are more the thinker, perhaps you are more practically minded than believers around you. But not less pious. This deserves attention in a culture where feelings get so much attention. But there is also another reason.

Your emotions can have been damaged in many ways. Often the cause is a traumatic experience in your youth. But it can also be the result of a depression at any time in your life. No matter how much you would like to, you can’t arouse feelings. You would like to beg God on your knees that you can love him more, but it does not touch your heart. It looks as if the words of your prayer echo back from a closed heaven. Is your faith then not real? Is God angry with you, because you feel no love for him? I remember the pastor who sank into a deep depression. He told about it himself in the newspaper. For a long time he no longer had any feelings for his wife, and faith also disappeared. It had ended. The doctor gave him medicine. Antidepressants. To his amazement the pastor noticed how his relationship with his wife improved. And that by means of the pills he found his faith back. That’s how he said it. On purpose. Because of course this is not possible. You don’t get faith from the drugstore.

With his experience he wanted to comfort others. Of course, we believe with our mind, heart, and hands. But if your feeling should be the distinguishing characteristic of true faith, then it is not only a despot but also a tyrant. Without pity. For emotions can be as uncertain as the Dutch weather.

God’s Voice and God’s Word←⤒🔗

More can be said about the lack of reliability of your own heart and the certainty of God’s Word. What I am referring to here is the idea of God’s voice in your heart. In the history of the church we have seen frequent piety movements that considered “the inner light” or “the Voice in your heart” of greater significance than the Word of God.

The Belgic Confession rejects this in clear language:

We believe that this Holy Scripture fully contains the will of God and that all that man must believe in order to be saved is sufficiently taught therein. The whole manner of worship which God requires of us is written in it at length. (Art. 7)

It sometimes scares me to see how confidently people say: God told me this or that. “God told me that this is the way of my future.” Or: “Jesus ordered me to accept that task.” As if God continuously gives personal messages to certain people outside the Bible.

I am thinking of the young couple that enthusiastically starts a home for children in the developing world. They have followed the proper training for this purpose and are convinced that God called them. But in the first year already he gets overworked; in the second year they receive a baby with a handicap that can only be treated in the Netherlands.

We must not too easily call out: Jesus said to me… That popular way of speaking shows that people have not much of an idea as to who God is. The Bible teaches: “God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few.”

There is another reason why we should not so easily insist that we have heard God’s voice, or that we are so certain that this or that is the will of God. For people have very often used it for the wrong purposes. When in the Middle Ages people were called to join the crusades to the Holy Land, you heard the call throughout Europe: “God wills it!” In God’s Name horrible cruelties took place and many children met in a children’s crusade their death. “God approves,” the deacon said to the girl he abused. “God says: those who have loved much shall be forgiven much.” It was only when she was old and dying that she could tell others how she had been confused by this. People who keep calling out: God wills, God calls, God finds… Also in church conflicts opponents, both right and left, keep insisting that they are doing God’s will and piously pray for opposing conclusions.

Those who think they have to say that something is the will of God do well to remember that God has revealed his will in the Bible. That is the proper approach for the believer. And even then, we must be careful in stating our position as if it were the truth, for we so easily read the Bible through our own glasses. Also the most upright Christian must pray that he rightly understands God’s Word.

You Read God’s Will in the Bible←⤒🔗

The Old Testament tells a striking story of a prophet (indeed, a prophet!) who forgets to read the Bible. You can look it up: 2 Kings 3. The prophet Elisha accompanies the kings Jehoram and Jehoshaphat on an expedition against Moab. On the way Elisha consults the Lord and then he apparently receives a vision. Therein he sees Israelite soldiers stopping up springs of water, cutting down fruit trees and ruining fertile pieces of land. This, he tells the kings, is an order of the Lord: that is how they have to deal with Moab.

Elisha was wrong! He should have checked his “revelation” with what God says in the Bible. Then he would have read in Deuteronomy 20 that God forbids this scorched-earth tactic. Rather than suggesting it, he should have warned the two kings against it. They should rather have offered peace to the king of Moab. In that case they could have prevented the human sacrifice on the wall. So God is very angry with Israel. The two kings have to end the struggle without victory.

“Read your Bible, pray every day” is a reminder to read the Bible prayerfully, so that you grow in understanding God’s will. Let’s always remind our children of this.

In the Way He Wants←⤒🔗

At decisive moments God can in special ways be present in your life. But even then it must not be a matter of only feeling, whereby your understanding does not count.

A wise Reformed preacher has well prepared his sermon and carefully selected the accompanying liturgy. He does not like a slovenly job. But when he stands in the pulpit there is a compelling thought. It is as if someone says: preach about Simeon! He tries to ignore it. It can’t be done—a sermon on Simeon, and that in mid-summer. And he has not prepared himself for this text.

The congregation looks surprised when the minister says that the service will deal with another part of the Bible. But of course, the person responsible for the writing down of the liturgy may have made a mistake. There is a rather typical brother in the church, someone with whom it is impossible to make contact. He always sits with his head bent down. The preacher wonders if he is ever touched by anything. But now, when he hears the theme, “A great and marvellous light, coming down from the heavenly throne,” the man suddenly sits up straight and looks at the preacher. After the service he joins in singing the Song of Simeon. Also the following Sundays he is a different person in church.

God finds those who are his, always and everywhere, in the way he wants. The minister knows this well, but he also does not forget how idiosyncratic people are. Shortly later a somewhat experiential brother is with him in his study. The pastor must help him. He has for a long time already been alone caring for his family, and now he has had a revelation. As the pastor well knows, sister so-and-so is a widow and last night he was given the word of the Bible, “A year from now Sarah will have a son.”

A serious discussion follows about motivations and about the possible consequences of uniting two families. Nevertheless, the brother follows his inclination, convinced that he has received “a promise.” But the marriage remains childless, and within a year already pastoral visits are required because of the lack of harmony.

It is no doubt true: God can deal with you in a way that makes clear his plan for your life. God can certainly in a special way intervene in your existence. But then also you must continue to listen reverently to God’s Word; you may not interpret the Bible according to your wishes.

The Impenetrable Human Spirit←⤒🔗

In addition to feelings, God gives us also a critical and analytic mind. We can analyze arguments and pray for the proper conclusion. We then place our decision humbly in God’s hand and trust that he will provide. Emotion and understanding are not competitors. We serve God with both, as best as we can and always in obedience to his Word. Let us be aware of the fact that our feelings and experiences are just as much affected by sin as our understanding and our decisions.

I once listened to a programme about near-death experiences. This is about the happenings of people who, when very close to death, go through an experience of indescribable blessing. Sometimes there is a turnabout and they return to life.

Christians have sometimes explained the heavenly experiences of these people as a revelation from God. And that is possible. In a moment of great need God can be present in a very special way. In Gethsemane an angel came to the Lord Jesus to support him in his need. Paul speaks of an experience of being caught up to the third heaven, where he saw paradise and heard indescribable things.

But in the programme I heard also unbelievers speak of the paradisal situation they had experienced. Their stories differed on no point from those of believers. And this is rather different—to put it mildly—from what the Bible says about the death of believers and unbelievers. When is such an experience a hallucination, and when a revelation from God?

It makes one even more careful in ascribing to God experiences of the impenetrable human spirit.

Where Your Anchor Is Secure←⤒🔗

I remember how, when I was young, I doubted my faith. There were always again these questions: is my faith real? Do I love God to the extent that he expects it of me? One day I thought: Yes! But the next days I knew for sure: it was No. I couldn’t resolve it. Until my elderly pastor said, “My boy, your anchor is not where it should be. You throw it out into your own heart, and there it never finds a sure and firm ground. It can only find security and steadfastness in heaven, where you have the Lord Jesus as the high priest.”

I will never forget that precious text (Heb. 6:19, 20). It is the same thing that Luther discovered and that has so often been the issue in struggles in the church. Find rest in the redemption. Trust God’s promises. For God’s faithfulness and God’s grace go far beyond what I can understand and feel.