The Role of Emotions in Crises

Clearly, the breach at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 has intensified our nation’s multiple crises amid an already traumatized population. We have faced the effects of an uncertain and erratic virus which has turned our way of life upside down. In my viewpoint, many of our citizens were already experiencing some degree of post-traumatic stress due to Covid-19 and its destructive effects. That’s reflected in  Covid-19 deaths, and the rise of  heartbreaking suicides, addictions, and poor mental health.

Since the election, and now the events of this week, many of our citizens were already fragile. So I want to address how emotions affect crises and point our Christian community to scriptures that will guide us. And help us to help others as best we can with the Lord’s guidance. Believe me, I am talking to myself too.

The current chaos of anger, accusations, violence, name-calling, unfriending, and slander is worsened by hysteria. It’s the engineer right now on a speeding locomotive of emotion on steroids. Hysteria is a dangerous engineer when it comes to gathering facts, making decisions, and keeping our country on secure tracks that will end with a destination of good, positive results.

When I was on staff for nine years with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, (AIPAC) I often reminded our wonderful activists, “Remember, our passions must be governed by wisdom.” (Our passion then, and now, for millions of us evangelicals is to advocate for the safety and security of Israel.)  

Governing our passions with wisdom does not mean erasing our values which we hold dear with passionate commitment. It does mean choosing God’s wisdom to operate the locomotive and putting our emotions in the caboose. 

Hysteria itself is an expression of emotions running wild. Back in Victorian days, more than a hundred years ago, it was a medical diagnosis. Over the years, hysteria was demoted as a medical diagnosis, but hysteria is still ever-present. It can also manifest as selective amnesia and over-dramatized behavior.  Hysteria is making quite a debut in our public rhetoric.

Hopefully, our Christian community will operate within scriptures and take up the mantle of God’s wisdom. That way, we can make a difference in the spiritual atmosphere of our nation which is now in the grips of the enemy of our personal and national souls.

Guard your minds against conspiracy theories since they will sound plausible. Resist the urge to post what you have not checked out.  Let’s ask for the Lord’s mercy and His Holy Spirit to enable us to stand on the Rock of our faith.  I find some stress relief by taking deep prayerful breaths when newscasts report more shocking news. And for that matter, I don’t listen to news all day and night. It’s debilitating.

I hope and pray that what I have written here will be useful and encouraging. Our solutions are in the Bible.  And here are a few verses where we can discover the wisdom we all desperately need.   

Proverbs 20:15 Wise speech is rarer and more valuable than gold and rubies.

Psalm 141:3 Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.

James 3:3-6 The tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.