Feelings, the unreliable barometer

A long time ago, I started a series on suffering, and God�s comforting presence in the midst of suffering, which is still ongoing. I wrote:

The foolish heart reads these Scriptures and says, �I do not feel God, therefore God is wrong and His word is not true.� The wise heart reads these Scriptures and says, �I do not feel God, but His word is true, therefore, what is going on with me that is affecting my feelings?� Good question. There are some biblical answers to that question.

Nutrition affects feelings. Or perhaps I should say health affects feelings, including not only what we take into our bodies or do not take into our bodies, but also sleep, or lack of it, and disease, can play havoc with our feelings. I come from a family with a genetic predisposition for low seratonin levels, a compound in the brain which affects moods and feelings. When I was younger, especially for the span of time I was pregnant with our children and nursing, all the nutrition I was taking in was going into our children, leaving not enough for me. I struggled with depression, irritability, and a low coping threshold, which made life miserable for me and everyone else. When I finally figured out I was deficient nutritionally, and addressed that, my moods, mood swings, and feelings dramatically improved. I still need to take a daily vitamin and mineral supplement to keep my brain chemistry in optimum balance.

Where was God for those eight to ten years when I was miserable? Right with me, where He has always been. But my pessimistic and depressed state of mind clouded my vision and my feelings, and I couldn�t see Him. Biblical principle number one: God�s word is absolute truth, the perfect description of reality. When what we are perceiving as reality through the filter of our senses, thoughts, and feelings in this natural world contradicts God�s word, it is this fallen natural world, or our perception of it, which is wrong, NOT God�s word.

In my case, my nutrition needed to be improved so that my perceptions could be more aligned with reality. But while nutrition and health is a big factor, more than nutrition can affect our feelings, which is why feelings are such an unreliable barometer of reality.

To be continued ...
Previously: Why don�t I feel God?
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Update: continued in The spirit, soul, and body connection