Have you ever thought of different ways of handling feelings?

Of course, you can stuff them.  This, however, doesn’t seem terribly wise.  Stuffing stuff isn’t wise when it comes to houses or hearts.  Psychologists have been telling us this for a long time, and they are almost certainly right, in my opinion.

On the other hand, you can spray others with your feelings.  This doesn’t seem wise either.  I have noticed that, when I simply vent my emotions, I don’t feel better.  In fact, I feel worse.  As my brother said years ago, “I don’t slam the door, because I figure it would feel so good that I would want to yank the #!* thing off its hinges.”

Perhaps there is a third way.  What about refocusing emotions?

“Psa. 37:1       Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

                        be not envious of wrongdoers!

²           For they will soon fade like the grass

                        and wither like the green herb.

Psa. 37:3         Trust in the LORD, and do good;

                        dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

⁴           Delight yourself in the LORD,

                        and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psa. 37:5         Commit your way to the LORD;

                        trust in him, and he will act.

⁶           He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

                        and your justice as the noonday.

Psa. 37:7         Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

                        fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

                        over the man who carries out evil devices!

Psa. 37:8         Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

                        Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

⁹           For the evildoers shall be cut off,

                        but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.”

Derek Kidner, in his wonderful commentary in the Tyndale Old Testament Series, summarizes verses 1-8, and makes some telling points in regard to them.   “An obsession with enemies and rivals cannot be simply switched off, but it can be ousted by a new focus of attention; note the preoccupation with the Lord himself, expressed in the four phrases that contain his name here. It includes a deliberate redirection of one’s emotions . . . .” ^[1]

I was especially struck by Kidner’s comment that we can’t simply switch off our “obsession with enemies and rivals.”  Furthermore, there is such a thing as “. . . a deliberate redirection of one’s emotions . . . .”

I am increasingly finding this to be true.  I really can redirect my emotions.

I used to not so much have emotions, as they had me.  These days, if I slow down and think—and, above all, pray—I find that I am much more in control of my emotions than I used to be.

I’ve often heard it said, “Emotions are neither good nor bad; they just are.”  This, it seems to me, is be true but not the whole truth.  Emotions can lead us toward good actions or bad actions.

I am not saying that emotions are always easy to redirect.  I am not sure that they are ever easy to redirect.  However, I do believe that it is possible.  And redirecting emotions is so much better than either stuffing or spraying.

^[1]https://accordance.bible/link/read/Tyndale_Commentary#22420