We cannot hide from our feelings, but we must not let them control us. We do not get in touch with our feelings, because they speak the truth, since they may lie (Jer. 17:9, “The human heart is desperately wicked, who can really know it?”) But we must remember we will always bring our feelings to someone—either to God who will heal those feelings, or to our flesh which will only get angrier. God’s truth sets us free, not our feelings and thoughts. This is why Scripture says, “Take every thought captive,” (2 Cor. 10:5.) Both our hearts (feelings) and our thoughts can be tainted by sin. I have experienced this truth when intrusive memories were bothering me. A friend encouraged me to stop relying on psychology and instead look at this problem in light of the Scripture. She sensed this problem was spiritual, not psychological. She was right, and the minute I asked God about it, he gave me insight into this problem, as well as the opportunity to silence the intrusive nature of those sad memories. So please join me this week as I explore how our feelings and thoughts can deceive us, but when we bring feelings and thoughts to God, especially exposing them to Scripture, we can find freedom and healing.
In my case, I kept remembering people who had hurt me very badly and then blamed me for what they did. Some said I was the abusive one if I cried as they yelled at me or called me names. Others justified their behavior, saying I was not a good enough person and thus deserved bad treatment. Some of these bullies were friends, family, bosses, church members, and other people I was close to. I realized the Devil kept bringing up these memories to trick me into thinking I had to understand why these people acted the way they did and to use psychological principals to solve this mystery. I am not against psychology when it is used under God’s authority (so God’s word has the final authority in any decision I make), but in this case, I didn’t need to know why people did those cruel things. I can simply believe that some bullies will always be cruel if they can get away with their sin. But Satan also kept pressing me with the memories, so I would try to think of how to justify myself before those people, as if I had to prove I was innocent. In some weird way, I tried to use aspects of psychology to defend myself, but God never called me to use psychology that way.
These were all lies of the Enemy. Psychology has a place in our lives, in that we can use it to help us discover our personalities, learning styles, and other aspects of our minds that help us to be productive and joyful. But psychology must come under God’s authority where we make sure we are first seeking God’s will, including using his Word. In fact, some aspects of psychology are based upon lies that contradict Scripture. For example, while a part of Carl Jung’s work helped Katharine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Myers develop the Myers-Briggs personality indicator, not all of Jung’s beliefs were right. The work of Myers and Briggs has helped people better understand how God made them, and also to learn about the strengths and weaknesses they have. With this tool, a person can also better understand how others are different. This tool has helped educators show students these strengths. Then the students have been able to use this knowledge to help them study efficiently and even guide them in their career pursuit.
All of these are good qualities of psychology, and Carl Jung’s work helped these women to create this good tool. But Carl Jung was not a Christian, and he supported some horrible heresies. While he was right that people need to become whole, he said we find wholeness in ourselves, without needing Christ’s sacrifice, forgiveness of sins (for repented sins) and the Holy Spirit’s filling. Jung believed many other horrible lies that accuse God of evil. We must heed the warning of Cols. 2:8-10, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.”
So psychology can only do so much to help us when we are struggling. Many times, we need the Scripture to combat intrusive thoughts if these thoughts are coming from a Spiritual source. Sometimes our flesh is acting up and it is spiritually dead, or the Devil is putting intrusive thoughts into our minds. We cannot deny that Satan puts intrusive thoughts into our minds, because Scripture confirms examples when this has happened. For example, in 1 Chron. 21:1, “Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel.” Satan put this bad idea into David’s mind, and he cooperated with Satan in acting upon it.
Sometimes our intrusive thoughts do not come from Satan but are things we have neglected to consider and deal with. For example, I suffered from extreme sugar cravings. I ate sugar to such an excessive point, I weighed nearly 50 pounds more than I do today. I might eat an entire pie or large box of cookies, due to the “stress” I felt. But that stress came from years of grief over unresolved father issues. I discussed this in my much earlier post, “Embracing Grief,” so if you missed that post, please read it. I needed to admit to God about how very badly I felt about my damaged father-daughter relationship. My father was still alive, and I also needed to confront him, and then work on healing that relationship. I am eternally grateful to my friend who encouraged me to believe I could do this work, and then the counselor who helped me.
The year I spent working on that grief brought me so much relief and healed me of that decade-long sugar binging compulsion. After the work on my emotions and thoughts, I could responsibly enjoy sugar without over doing it (although today I don’t have sugar anymore, for health reasons.) And I felt peace of mind, and developed a healthier relationship with my dad. So I know that some intrusive feelings and thoughts are actually areas of our lives where we lack healing and where we need to bring those feelings and thoughts to God and at times to a counselor to help us heal. Psychology was appropriate in this case.
But the memories I had been having seemed to come from areas of my life where I had already healed from those relationships. As I remembered the accusations, I kept feeling like I had to justify myself as innocent before the bullies who had hurt me. I was not actually talking to them, because some of them are long gone out of my life (and even unsafe—possibly violent.) Yet I kept responding to the memories with psychology, and I was finding no relief. After my friend’s urging, I asked God to show me if I even needed to deal with those memories. Instantly God brought to mind Jer. 31:29-30, “In those days people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge.” I sensed God saying that he already knows those bullies are at fault for their sins. In that proverb, some Israelites claimed that the innocent people, such as the children, were being punished for the guilty people’s sins (such as parent’s sins.)
I sensed that God was reminding me that he already knows these people were wrong when they mistreated me. I don’t need to justify myself to anyone. If I should ever see those people again, I could hold my head high, knowing I did not cause the anger in those people’s hearts. It was never my fault those people hurt me. I did not incite their anger just by being alive. But I had gotten into a loop, remembering the anger and harsh accusations of these people. I had been trying to figure out why they had behaved that way, and I was thinking of how to defend myself if I ever saw them again. How silly, since God never asked me to defend myself. I did not need to figure out what lie I was believing, because it was obvious. I believed I had to defend myself against unrighteous people. Romans 8:33 says, “Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.” God defends me.
Besides, my behavior speaks more loudly than any words I could use to defend myself. For example 1 Peter 2:12 says, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” I have to trust that deep in their hearts, these angry people knew they were wrong. So I can ignore them, even as Jesus said, when he said in Matt. 15:14 “So ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.” Many times I do not need to say a word to defend myself, because God will convict these bullies. I also call to mind one of my memory verses, Dan. 3:16b-18, “We do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, your majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, your majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” I am convinced God will defend me if I ever see these people again.
Today I also asked God, why Satan used these intrusive memories to taunt me. I will wait until next week to answer that question, because God showed me that Satan chooses specific strategies for certain people. So please be sure to read next week’s post as part two in this series on tricks Satan uses to prey upon our emotions.
Thanks so much for joining us in this week’s post. If you have any insights on how Satan has used your emotions to trick you, please let me know. And may the Lord bless you this week!