Is Faith a Feeling?
by Nathan Zacharias on 11/12/2009 at 4:41 PM
I’m writing this post from the amazing city of New York. The funny thing about this city is that my love for it varies depending on the time of day. For example, last night I loved walking around as soon as I arrived and finding some good food. But then when I was woken up unnecessarily early this morning by the construction worker outside belting out his favorite song in Spanish, well, the NYC love took a hit.
Ok but serenading construction workers aside, this is an awesome city. That really has nothing to do with the rest of my post but I just thought it would be fun to share.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but there’s something I’ve really been thinking about of late. It’s a lyric I heard recently written by musician James Hetfield. In the song “Low Man’s Lyric,” he sings this line:
My eyes seek reality. My fingers feel for faith.
The line really struck me the first time I heard it, and while it’s written in the context of a song about a man who has reached rock bottom, I think it’s an honest expression that many of us can relate to even if things aren’t going terribly.
So often in life I try to find a tangible outworking of some things. I want reality to be what I can see. I don’t want to think about the reality that is taking place beyond what I can see or know. “My eyes seek reality.” But that’s not always how it works.
His line on faith resonates with me even more – faith is easiest when I can feel it and many times because of that I expect my faith to line up with my emotions. “My fingers feel for faith.” But the truth is that the very nature of faith often requires me to trust despite how I feel. Like love, faith is so much more than just a feeling. That’s what makes it so beautiful, but it’s also why there are some days it requires more thought and effort.
Have you ever felt like the line Hetfield penned? Are there days where you’re searching for reality or can’t “feel” your faith? How do you work through those moments, or what have you learned through them?
1. Carol said the following at 5:34 PM on Nov 12:
This is something that I had to learn as a teenager and a relatively new Christian. I didn't "feel" like the Lord was close to me, and because of this, I almost lost my faith. Through the mentorship of older Christians, I learned that faith is believing what God says is true no matter how my emotions are behaving. That knowledge continues to help me today.
2. k. said the following at 7:30 PM on Nov 12:
It ebbs and flows..."Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"
3. Texas Craig said the following at 8:31 PM on Nov 12:
I used to have a poster on my wall that read:
"My faith does not rest in my feelings. It rests in the unshakeable character of Christ."
I always liked that. While I agree that emotions are God-given, I also tend to find that they interfere with my ability to follow Christ wholeheartedly if I give in to them. Anger, impatience, fear, sadness, anxiety are all things that interfere with my ability to be self-controlled if I allow them to be displayed in me. So, at least for me, I find that I am best able to follow Christ when I keep my "feelings" in check and simply do that which is objectively right in any given situation.
4. Benjamin said the following at 9:11 PM on Nov 12:
"Low Man's Lyric" is a great song. Underrated, I fear, because it sounds so "country" with the B-bender. It took a while to grow on me. What a versatile band, and what an amazing songwriter Hetfield is.
5. Harry said the following at 2:30 AM on Nov 13:
faith is not a feeling... feelings are subject to change and all so we don't serve God based on that!
6. Duc said the following at 6:22 AM on Nov 13:
I found this clip by Rob Hotchkin, Feeling vs. Faith:
http://www.xpmedia.com/ADTFiV4vZ3iT
7. Beth said the following at 8:12 AM on Nov 13:
Lately I have been wondering, "what is faith? do i have it?" How can I tell my faith is genuine? And so on.
8. Sarah said the following at 8:43 AM on Nov 13:
Like our belief in Christianity and the importance of having a relationship with Jesus, faith is a choice. I think so many Christians view "having faith" as a last resort, or an action more along the lines of a "dream come true" when in actuality, we should be using it as our first resort. Having faith is anything but a feeling. It is choosing to believe, accept and rest in the fact that God in control and He knows the big picture.
9. Tami said the following at 10:29 AM on Nov 13:
It sounds like the song lyrics are talking about searching for faith as something tangible (feeling as a sense), rather than faith as relying on one's emotions (feeling as an emotion).
It sort of reminds me of Hebrews 11:1, which talks about faith as the conviction of things not seen. So it's interesting, this idea of grabbing for something you know exists, but you can't see. Like rock climbing in the dark.
10. Leigh said the following at 11:06 AM on Nov 13:
Low Man's Lyric – child of the 90’s – ha
Is Faith a feeling? No. But I think you have feelings along with your faith. Emotions or lack of emotions doesn’t mean you do or do not have faith in something. My faith in Jesus Christ is an intellectual choice that is accompanied by feelings. I am an emotional being by God’s design, a reflection of THE emotional God.
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
Faith = an understanding and acceptance maybe?
I have struggled with not feeling my faith and I think every Christian has or will. But sometimes I think God wants us to say “ok God, I can’t feel you, I can’t see you, I can’t hear you, but I WILL trust you Lord!”
Leigh
11. Julie (Ginger) said the following at 11:41 AM on Nov 13:
I like how Derek Webb and Don Chaffer say it in their rendition of Psalm 42, "Overwrought":
"Why am I so overwrought? / Why am I so disturbed? / Why can't I just hope in God? / Despite all my emotions, I will believe, and praise the One who saves me and is my life."
Knowing God for long enough has helped me to remember that I've been through these cycles before of feeling low in faith, hopeless and downcast, and God has still been faithful. It helps me to say yes, despite all my emotions, I will believe and act upon what I know to be true about Him and his ways.
12. John said the following at 12:19 PM on Nov 13:
I'm reminded of a Caedmon's Call lyric:
My faith is like shifting sand, changed by every wave
My faith is like shifting sand,
so I'll stand on grace
- "Shifting Sand"
13. Tamara (from Canada) said the following at 2:56 PM on Nov 13:
Faith is so much more than a feeling, but I don't think it is never a feeling or only a feeling - neither extreme serves us well. If it was only a feeling than these last few months would mean I didn't have faith. Having faith when you can't feel it is definitely much more difficult than when you can feel it.
I have spent the last few months figuring out what faith looks like when you don't feel like it. A very special little boy was taken from this earth at 2-1/2 years old and it was the anniversary of the death of a young husband/father just a few short weeks after that. Both of these things deeply affected good friends of mine who were the families of these people, and because I knew this little boy and the young husband/father personally, the loss of them also affected me. In times like that, it is hard to "feel" faith.
It was in this time that I had a choice to make each day - I could either decide my faith wasn't real because I couldn't feel it, or I could choose to trust in Who I knew God had proved Himself to be in the past and Who Scripture said God was even when thigns didn't make sense. Not an easy journey. I ultimately made the choice to keep acting in faith even though I didn't feel it. It was a conscious choice to make - soemtimes daily, sometimes hourly, sometimes minute by minute, because if I didn't do that I would be overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the loss that had happened. And, over time, it became easier and easier to have faith without the feelings. I still have days now where I have to make the counscious choice to have faith without feelings. But I know that it is worth it when I see the journey that these last few months have been.
Really, when you think about it, having faith without feelings is very similar to how things work in our relationships with our families or close friends. We love them and choose to keep loving them even when they do things that frustrate us or make us mad. We don't just walk away from that relationship because of one thing, we choose to persevere - to work through those times - because deep down we do actually love them deeply. Even if it costs us something to stick with it in that relationship we do it.
I think choosing to have faith without the feelings being there works much the same way. We make a choice and we persevere in it no matter what. We willlingly "pay the cost" there might be - in terms of choosing the easy way or the hard way - because choosing to have faith without feelings can mean choosing the hard way that doesn't come naturally.
What I've learned in this time:
1) God is faithful to us. If we choose to have faith even when we don't feel it, He will reward that and cause our faith to grow.
2) Faith is so much more than whether or not we have feelings of faith. It is a choice.
14. Shelley said the following at 9:15 PM on Nov 13:
Tamara, I really enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for sharing how God has helped you through tragedy recently.
I'm battling with with my own situation at the moment. A colleauge of mine was brutally murdered ten days ago. I won't go into anymore detail than that as it's too gut-wrenching every time I think about what happened to her. Even though I did not know her very well it has really shaken me. I've been overwhelmed with a combination of grief, fear, numbness, shock and fury.
And the question that I've been battling with is why didn't God stop it? I know that it's not God's fault. I know that God is good. I know that He is more grieved by the horror of sin than I am...but I am still struggling with this question. In the midst of my questioning, however, I know that I can trust God. He has never let me down yet. He has always been faithful, despite my own moments of faithlessness.
It was great to hear your reminder though of how faithful God has been in your own suffering.
Forgiveness is also a difficult issue at the moment. I'm sure the whole town is feeling it. I am a teacher at a Christian school and our devotion theme has been "loving our enemies" this week. It was not planned by me. It just simply happened to be where we were up to in our book. What a struggle it's been, but also a huge blessing, to talk to my students about forgiveness. It's a very real issue for them as they know both the victim and the perpetrator.
I seriously wonder how God can bring good out of this situation. But then I also know I would be an idiot if I underestimated just how powerful God's grace is.
I guess faith, for me during this time in my life, is to keep trusting and obeying even when I don't understand why God allowed it to happen.
15. Freddie said the following at 12:36 PM on Nov 14:
Tamara #13,
Great comment - thank you!
I'm also struggling with a lack of "feeling" - for quite some time now. I guess I can live with my "intellectual" faith for a while, but I sure miss that good feeling. God feels really distant...
16. Jessi said the following at 10:28 PM on Nov 14:
To me, faith is a belief, while hope is a feeling. Both are good in their own way. I can't help but have hope, because it is just a feeling that springs eternal (haha, cheesy yes). But hope is always pointing toward the positive. Faith, on the other hand, is something I'm really finding out I need to be praying for more of. Faith is neither negative nor positive, it's just a belief that no matter what, God knows what He's doing, and He loves me. And if things don't go the way I'm hoping, He will still be with me. You can have faith during the negative or positive times. Feelings come and go, but I think a belief stays with you during all life situations. Anyways, that's just my two cents...
17. Jo said the following at 6:22 AM on Nov 15:
Shelley,
"our devotion theme has been "loving our enemies" this week. It was not planned by me. It just simply happened to be where we were up to in our book. What a struggle it's been, but also a huge blessing, to talk to my students about forgiveness."
What a horrible thing you and those around you are having to deal with. But it's so encouraging that you're talking with your students about forgiveness. How brave to face that subject rather than skipping to something less painful - and how important it must be for the students (and you) to be able to wrestle honestly with the topic of forgiveness amidst all the grief and shock. I'm sure God is with you in this.
18. BDB said the following at 12:44 PM on Nov 15:
Shelley (#14) - that happened to one of my former co-workers on Monday. Memorial service coming up in a couple of days. Not sure what will happen when facing co-workers who do not have faith and demand how a loving God could allow this. I can pray through it until I find peace. But...the question remains...how will God comfort those who were closer to him and don't have faith to fall back on?
He was just married three months ago, too. Survived three tours in Iraq as a Marine, and came home to this on the job.
19. Tamara (from Canada) said the following at 3:45 PM on Nov 16:
Freddie #15:
Over time that "feeling" of wanting to have faith does come back. It's not yet come to stay for me, but there are times when I am starting to "feel" my fiath again. It's good and it makes me glad that I decided to stick it out even when I didn't feel like it. Keep holding on to faiht, whether you feel it or not!
20. Shelley said the following at 12:48 AM on Nov 19:
Hi Jo # 17
Thanks for your encouragement.
A little normality seems to be returning to life now. A few days away at the beach, on school camp, has done wonders for everyone. I've never been so glad to have my mind filled with some of the common (and not so common) incidents in a teacher's life: cuts and bruises, vomiting (not me...a student), ADHD medication, over-indulgence in junk food, sand-castles, water-slides, mud-slides etc.
BDB #18
I will keep you in my prayers. Such sensitivity is necessary when dealing with grief-stricken people. I know I sometimes fall into the trap of trying to give glib "spiritual" answers in my effort to help. However, what I am learning is that sometimes people don't want to hear answers...they just want someone to share their grief. I'm sure that God will give you the strength and wisdom you need at this time.
I have been trying to process the injustice of life lately. This morning I heard some news about an extremely difficult situation a friend is facing and it made me think about one of my favourite songs.
"God has not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn path-ways all our lives through,
He has not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain,
But God has promised strength for the day,
rest for the labour, light for the way,
grace for the trials, help from above,
unfailing kindness, undying love."