I Don’t Feel Like It

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: I Don’t Feel Like It ------------------- Date: 1/5/2002
Keywords: "emotions" "joy"
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Passage: Nehemiah 8:8-10*

8. And they read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.

9. Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.

10. Then he said to them, "Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Questions

1. Think back to the last time you were really sad. Did you "feel" like throwing a party in the midst of your sadness?

 

2. Can you imagine why God (through Nehemiah) would have told the Jews to throw a party (a week long festival called The Feast of Tabernacles) while they were in grief?

 

Practical help

Emotions are strong forces in most of our lives. In fact, our emotional life can easily become the engine that drives our actions. However, that is not the way it is supposed to be. Men and women of faith have realized that their actions are to be guided by a will that is bent to obey the Word of God.

Nehemiah told the people to throw a party, not because he was trying to be insensitive to their emotional life, but because the Law of God commanded the Jews to host a party (the Festival of Tabernacles) on the day on which they were weeping.

Their emotions did not give them an "out" for disobedience. They were to hold a festival whether they felt like it or not.

How easy is it to apply what we read in Nehemiah 8 to your struggle with Internet porn? Pretty easy! Don’t wait until you "feel" like ceasing to look at smut. Rather, recognize that God does not want you filling your mind with dirty pictures — and choose to stop NOW, regardless of how you "feel" about it.

And, lest that bit of advice should sound harsh or cold to you, the upshot of the Jews’ obedience to God was "great rejoicing" after they obeyed. Same for you. When you disregard the emotional pull to view pornography and choose instead to follow the Lord, you’ll discover joy!

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."