What Devastates You?

Nov 25

What causes you to feel devastated? When you feel completely out of sorts, like the world is falling apart, what has happened? Do you tend to feel distraught over a broken relationship? Do you feel utter distress over the loss of a job, a financial reversal, or your favorite sports team loss? For some, it seems the presidential election has brought utter devastation to their lives. What does the feeling of devastation reveal?

We see in Scripture that our emotions are tied to our desires. James 4:1-2 says,

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.”

Why do we get angry and fight? We don’t get what we desire. When we don’t get what we are passionate about, we respond with anger which leads to fighting and quarreling. When what we want is not obtained, we covet. We want it so badly we are willing to sin, fight and quarrel, to try to get what we want. I have written extensively about emotions and what they reveal about the heart here https://www.biblicalcounselingresources.org/work/landscape-5yfky.

Our very strong emotions, like feeling devastated, reveals that we have an inordinate desire in our hearts. A sinful response to this emotion shows that we are worshiping what we desire.

The recent political election has devastated some who were convinced that Kamala Harris would be the best choice for president. The emotional outcry on social media, on news shows, and late night shows is demonstrating the the heart of each person expressing their dismay. The House of Representatives in Washington D.C. offered free counseling to those members of the government who were distraught over Donald Trump being elected president. This blog is not about endorsing Donald Trump. The point is to understand what the human outcry reveals.

If any of us is devastated by an event, like the presidential election, we learn where we are placing our hope and trust. When my emotions crash over an outcome, I know that I am too invested in what I wanted. I am worshiping what I want. The arguing and quarreling we are watching play out in the media and with friends and family, is revealing that some have placed their hope and trust in the president as their savior. Rather than believing “in God we trust”, some are displaying that their belief was “in Harris we trust”. The same might be said for those who would have been devastated if the election had turned out differently. If a Republican had been distraught over Biden or Harris being elected, their belief would have been revealed to be “in Trump I trust”.

Stop and consider how invested in the election you were. Were your hopes and fears riding on the outcome? If it’s not the election, what makes you feel distressed?

Psalm 20:7-9 states clearly where our hope and trust should lie.

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.

O Lord, save the king!
May he answer us when we call.”

Are you trusting in chariots? Chariots represented the toughest and most advanced weapon of war. Those trusting in chariots were placing their hope in man’s ability to use horses and wooden chariots to defeat the enemy. Rather than looking to God, their Creator and Savior, they trust in their own ability to solve the problem or look to other men to be the answer. God’s warning is clear. Trusting in man leads to a collapse and fall. Isn’t that what feeling devastated is? Our emotional response to our savior failing us is to feel like life has collapsed and is defeated. But those who trust in the Lord rise and stand upright. This is not a guarantee that the battle turns out as we want or think it should. Regardless of outcome, trusting in the Lord allows a person to stand because trusting God means trusting His sovereign will and the purpose He is working out. The Lord is our King. He hears us and cares about us.

You can feel confident no matter who is elected or what the outcome of an event is, because of God’s character. He is faithful. He is good. He is infinitely wise and completely sovereign. Every human president and elected official has been placed in authority by God (Romans 13:1). God does not sleep or slumber (Psalm 121:3). God is seated on His throne. He is perfectly ruling every moment of every day, in every place on earth and in heaven. We can trust in the Name of the Lord our God because He is trustworthy.