The Lost Emotion of Anguish

If you have found yourself lately with a pit in your stomach, feeling grief and sorrow in your heart over events happening in the world around you - you have your heart in the right place. It’s the heart that God has given you.

The consequences of sin is devastating. It not only hurts the one doing it but also the ones around them, even if not directly. It also harms society in general. No one is an island to themselves. The wages of sin is indeed death. Not merely physical death but having repercussions that affect all. Just ask Adam. 

It seems in our society, and even in the church, the knee jerk reaction when evil happens is to look for the silver lining in the cloud of despair. It’s certainly easier that way. And far less troubling. Dwelling upon a wrong that happened or is happening is too consuming. When we see that bad things are occurring around us we often drift towards finding a distraction. Caring is far too painful, especially when we think we can do nothing to make a difference. In an attempt to make a difference, we look to be the person of hope that cheers everyone up and makes them feel better. Thus others can be comforted and everyone around us can praise our positivity. 

Honestly, I applaud those who are trying to give hope. And some are quite gifted at it. We need hope. Real hope. But at the same time, we also need to grieve. Deep grief is to be expected in the face of evil. It is the healthy and rightful response. Because God gave us a full range of emotion and being made in HIs image, we should be free to experience God's heart both in sorrow and in joy for what happens now and for what is to come.

Be reminded that it is not ungodly to be in tears and anguish over sin. In fact, it is the most God-like response to the affects of sin in the world around us. All throughout God’s Word we see His people respond in anguish to the evil that has affected not only their life but more so those around them. 

“Tears stream down from my eyes, because people do not keep your law.” Psalm 119:136

The Prophet Jeremiah, known as the weeping prophet, knew full well the sin that his nation was committing and the punishment that awaited. Even though he believed that God would triumph in the long run. 

“I wish that my head were a well full of water and my eyes were a fountain full of tears! If they were, I could cry day and night for those of my dear people who have been killed.” Jeremiah 9:1. Also in Jeremiah 9:9-10 and Jeremiah 13:17.

Nehemiah responded in anguish when he heard of how God’s people were living in a far away land.  

“When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” Nehemiah 1:4

The Apostle Paul wept over the sin of the world he lived in.

 “¹⁸ For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things.” Philippians 3:18–19

“I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” Romans 9:2

^“For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you.” 2 Corinthians 2:4  

Even Jesus was in anguish, for crying out loud! 

“Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it” Luke 19:41

“During his earthly life Christ offered both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears,” Hebrews 5:7

“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;” Isaiah 53:3

 “And in his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Luke 22:44

Was Jesus wrong for grieving and crying and wailing over the effects of sin to come upon Him and the world? Even though He knew that He would win in the end? Never. 

The Holy Spirit is grieved over sin.  

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” Ephesians 4:30

God the Father is grieved by the wrong His creation does. (Genesis 6:5-6, Judges 10:16) 

The response of anguish over sin is His heart. It is His image being reflected in us. 

It needs to be our heart as well. A heart of flesh and not of stone. A heart that beats in rhythm with His.

True anguish is a crying out to God that THINGS HAVE TO BE DIFFERENT! It is the consuming of one's thoughts and emotions. It's what happens when you are "God consumed" and "others consumed". The "self consumed person" can never experience true anguish for things that are on the heart of God. They can only anguish over their own demise.

God longs for His creation to return to Him. To awaken and bring alive the souls of men and women. To revive people. To revive His Church. Yet, no revival has ever come without anguish and the brokenness of the hearts and the shedding of tears. Before the great revival of the people of Judah in II Kings 22, King Josiah tore his robes as he heard God’s word for the first time and saw that he and the people were disobeying the Lord. It should pain us as well to see the purity of God being defiled. To see His glory being trampled upon. To see His love and mercy being rejected. 

The pendulum swing of church culture has turned from the preachers of gloom and doom to the preachers of happiness. Yes, the Bible ends with a, “and we all lived happily ever after” finale in Revelations 22. But there are also mostly wrathful accounts of judgment before that great and final chapter. All of which involves billions of lives. That should grieve us and motivate us.

But some would say that we are to live a life of joy. After all, it is commanded and it is the fruit of the Spirit. Agreed. But look at how Christ modeled joy. 

"For the joy set before Him He endured the cross" Hebrews 12:2. 

Even though He knew He would rise again and win in the end, I hardly think He was all smiles up there on the cross. 

There are also those who are trying to spin everything positive. “Don’t let this get you down, God is in control.” “Oh well, look at the bright side!” “God wins in the end!” That’s all true and wonderful! But there is a time for it. 

⁴ A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. Ecclesiastes 3:4

When tempted to say the nice and happy thing, take time to heed the wise counsel of Proverbs, 

“Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar poured on a wound, is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.” Prov 25:20. 

But instead, join them in tears. 

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15.

The false prophets in Israel didn’t want to look at the bad that was being lived out among them and the consequences that awaited them. They only gave pleasant and encouraging words to Jeremiah and the people of God, when in fact things were going to get worse in the short term. 

¹⁴ They offer only superficial help for the harm my people have suffered. They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’ But everything is not all right! ¹⁵ Are they ashamed because they have done such shameful things? No, they are not at all ashamed. They do not even know how to blush! So they will die, just like others have died. They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 6:14–15

It's not about being a Debbie downer. Or a pessimist. Because life is not always rainbows, sparkles and dancing unicorns. There is evil abounding. And there is suffering as a result. Anguish is the acknowledgement of a present reality. To not grieve when evil happens is simply denial and sticking one’s head in the sand, not wanting to acknowledge the real world around them until it is safe to come out. 

Don’t allow yourself to become numb and calloused to the pains and sufferings of the world around you because of evil. Allow yourself to think deeply of the things that are close to the heart of God. It is having a broken heart for a broken world. In the words of World Vision Founder, Bob Pierce, “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.” 

To feel anguish is to allow yourself to be crushed. A wrenching of the soul. Sorrow. Agony. Brokenness. From anguish alone can come true affection, empathy and acts of mercy. It moves you to a place where conditions around you are unacceptable and inaction towards those conditions is unacceptable. 

Anguish should always be accompanied with prayer. Anguish and prayer is the great motivation to do God's work. No great work of God can be accomplished without first having anguish. Anguish is that which changes the prayer from, “Lord I'd like this to happen”, to “Lord, this must happen!" Every great work of God always began with the work of anguish upon a heart. 

For anguish to begin we must actually stop and think deeply about what is happening and not allow ourselves to be distracted. To allow the Holy Spirit to lead you into thinking how He does. It is asking the Holy Spirit to lead us how to pray, even if it is with "groans that words cannot express." Romans 8:26-27. 

Grieve that God is being rejected and dishonored. 

Grieve that evil has happened.

Grieve that people are being harmed, in the here and now and for eternity.

Grieve that judgment looms.

Anguish is needed. It is needed because somehow it is infectious. As we anguish, others anguish. When we all anguish, change happens.

Then hold to the hope-filled promises of God. Because true anguish is never without hope. It is the utter dependence upon God for his work for without it there's nothing but destruction and despair. We can only be free to truly anguish because we also have hope that He will attend to our cries. As anguish is infectious, so is hope. 

“One may experience sorrow during the night, but joy arrives in the morning.” Psalm 30:5

“Those who shed tears as they plant will shout for joy when they reap the harvest.” Psalm 126:5

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4

Here is a great video of a message on Anguish. Some things I'm not sure I agree with him but the point is very powerful.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGMG_PVaJoI