Can We Understand God's Feelings?

When it comes to someone’s feelings, we do not always know for sure, especially if we do not know that person well or have only just met them. Yet we usually grasp a person’s feelings and heart more quickly when we truly know them.

If our relationship with someone affects our ability to read their feelings, what about God? Is it possible for us to understand His feelings?

Sensitive to Feelings Because We Know Him Well

One time, I accompanied my wife to buy textbooks. While waiting for her to browse through products, I read a motivational book. I liked the book and wanted to buy it, but I said nothing. Not long after, my wife came over and asked, “Do you want to buy that book?”

If you are close to someone, you do not need to hear them speak; just from their expression or body language, you can know how they feel. Why did my wife know what I wanted? Because she knows me. In the two years of our marriage, I have come to know my wife more and more, and the same is true the other way around. We are near each other every day, maintain intense communication, and struggle together through life’s hardships.

To know someone and know them more deeply takes continual effort. There is no guarantee that husband and wife will surely know each other. They may live together for years yet rarely talk, rarely do activities together, or go on dates.

So, can we understand God’s feelings? The answer is yes.

To become more sensitive to this, practice these three things:

1. Read, Reflect on, and Do His Word

When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he rose up from among the congregation and took a spear in his hand, followed the Israelite man into the inner room, and pierced both of them, the Israelite man and the woman, through the belly. Then the plague against the Israelites stopped. Those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand. – Numbers 25:7-9

When the Israelites camped at Shittim, they committed sexual immorality with the women of Moab and turned to worship Baal of Peor (Numbers 25). As a result, God punished them with a plague and commanded Moses to kill those who had joined themselves to Baal of Peor (in ritual worship).

After Phinehas killed the two adulterers who were roaming around the Israelite camp, the plague stopped. How did he know that joining themselves to Baal of Peor and committing immorality with the women of Moab made God angry? By studying His word; specifically, in the points of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17), namely you shall have no other gods before Me, and you shall not commit adultery.

Because he empathized with God’s feelings, Phinehas took the initiative to defend His honor. He turned away God’s wrath by judging the two adulterers who openly entered the camp while all Israel was grieving because so many had fallen to the plague. If Phinehas had not taken action, that plague might have claimed even more lives.

The LORD said to Moses: "Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the Israelites, because he was so zealous for My honor among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in My jealousy.” – Numbers 25:10-11 Why Do We Need to Know God’s Feelings? Consistently studying God’s word makes us more sensitive to the things that make God sad, happy, proud, disappointed, angry, and so on. By understanding God’s feelings, we can:

1. save ourselves and others from God’s wrath
2. avoid unnecessary problems because our actions are aligned with His will

After it is read and reflected on, the word must also be put into practice. Some people finish reading the Bible many times and memorize many verses. They think they already know God and know His feelings, but their lives do not change because the word is never applied. So, keep reading and doing the word so that our lives may be pleasing before God.

2. Prayer and Fasting

One way to get to know someone better is by talking with them. In conversation, we do two things: speak and listen. Of course, the person we are talking to will get annoyed if we only want to keep talking, be listened to, or have our demands fulfilled.

Likewise, to know God more personally, we need to pray. Prayer here is not merely a routine, but heart-to-heart conversation with God. When we pray, we are not only demanding that God fulfill this or that desire of ours. We praise God, give thanks for everything He has done in our lives, and ask to be enabled to carry out each of His commands.

Regarding things that are personal in nature, we can ask in our hearts, “How would God feel if I did this or that?” For that reason, express your feelings to God. Perhaps your original purpose in praying is to ask God to change the situation you are facing. Yet through prayer, He can also show what His will and feelings are. Through prayer, we can also align our hearts with God’s heart. And this makes us more surrendered, knowing that there is a power and a will greater than our own desires.

God’s will and feelings often overlap. Unlike human feelings, which are unstable and change quickly without clear reason, God’s emotions have a sure foundation. And God’s feelings are usually shown in His will.

When I heard this news, I sat down and wept and mourned for several days. I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven ... – Nehemiah 1:4

When he heard the sad condition experienced by the Jews in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile, Nehemiah grieved for days. After that, he prayed and fasted to find out what God wanted him to do. If we read the full story, we know that in the end Nehemiah asked King Artaxerxes for permission to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

3. Spend Time with People Who Fear God

Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character. – 1 Corinthians 15:33

Perhaps we are not very sensitive to God’s feelings. Yet that sensitivity can be increased by being in the company of people who fear God.

For example, you may not know that lying for a good cause is a sin. But after spending time in a community of people who love God, you realize that lying, even for a good cause, is not right. You come to know what God desires, as well as how He feels when you obey or break His commands.

Not only that, in a spiritual community, you can find figures you can imitate. You can also see the fruit reaped by people whose lives please God, and learn from them.

By reading the word, praying, fasting, and spending time with people who fear God, we will be able to understand God’s feelings. And most importantly, become more and more like Him. Keep going! -