Managing Moods in the Bible

A tongue that calms is like a tree of life. But a tongue that tells produces a broken spirit.
    

Proverbs 15:4 NIRV

Many people have said that life is about ups and downs. In other words, there will be good times and bad times, the good days and bad days. The most important thing is how you handle all the seasons of life. This is one of the reasons why in the book of Ecclesiastes, The Preacher talks about times and seasons; he talks about a time to be born and a time to die. He talked about the fact that everything happens in its own time and in its own season. Every day, we experience different kinds of moods.  This could be as a result of the environment we are in, the kinds of things we listen to, the kinds of people we are currently interacting with.

Every day, we experience different kinds of moods.  This could be as a result of the environment we are in, the kinds of things we listen to, the kinds of people we are currently interacting with.

We can feel joy and happiness in one moment and in the next few minutes we can begin to feel sad, anxious, and depressed. It all depends on the kind of information we received through all our five senses.

Moods are peculiar to men and women. But usually, women tend to have more mood swings than men do. Typically, most men would like to hide their feelings or their true emotions about what they are currently going through compared to the women. Women will most likely want to talk, share, and even shed a tear when they are trying to express themselves.

Moods are peculiar to men and women. But usually, women tend to have more mood swings than men do.

There are many things that could cause your moods to swing from time to time. For instance, if you’ve not had a good sleep for a number of days, there will be a tendency for you to get easily irritated. Some of the things that cause it are the use of hard drugs or hard substances. These drugs are able to alter moods drastically. For instance, someone could be quiet, but after taking these hard substances, the person could suddenly become loud, arrogant, boastful, and even destructive because of the influence of what they are taking. Examples of these are alcohol, cocaine, codeine, or any kind of mood-altering substance.

Whenever we have mood swings, there’s always a tendency for someone to lack motivation to do what is expected of them. So, until there is a switch from the negative motive to the positive, good people will not likely do what they are supposed to do in the first place.

Moods are a normal part of our everyday life. The swings will always come from time to time, but we have to develop the skill to manage and channel the energy towards productive things. Even those who we perceive to be great men and women also have their own low moments too. Scripture has a number of examples to show us. We can see the man, Peter (one of the disciples of Jesus) who moved from one mood to another. At the point when Jesus was to be arrested, he rose up zealously trying to fight those who came to arrest his master. In fact, at a point, he cut off the ear of one of them. Jesus rebuked him and healed the soldier whose ear was cut off.

Even those who we perceive to be great men and women also have their own low moments too.

Peter, who moments ago had stood up valiantly for his master, could not stand for him when people inquired about who he was. He denied knowing his master. His courage had turned to cowardice. Realizing what had happened, he ran away crying. He felt bad for betraying his master.

Another example in the scriptures is Elijah. Elijah was a man from Tishbe who came into Israel at a time when the nation was neck-deep in idolatry. The nation was led by Ahab and his idolatrous wife, Jezebel. They led the nation to sin against God and at the right time, God sent Elijah to come into the nation to declare the counsel of God. Elijah challenged Ahab and was bent on setting the record straight on who was to be worshipped by God’s people. He staged a contest on Mount Carmel together with over four hundred prophets of Baal.

The day came, and as requested, two bulls were given to both parties to slaughter. The Prophets of Baal set their bull in order on the altar and called on their god. They kept calling, dancing around the altar, cutting their bodies just to get the attention of their god. Elijah mocked them and asked that they called on their god with a louder voice, perhaps he had gone on a long journey. They obliged and even cried the more. From morning to evening, there was no response; there was not even smoke. After exhausting themselves, Elijah called all the people to himself. He cut his bull, laid it on the altar, and called upon the name of the Lord.

Elijah mocked them and asked that they called on their god with a louder voice, perhaps he had gone on a long journey.

Soon after he had made his cry to God, fire fell from heaven, and the entire sacrifice was consumed. The water, stone, sacrifice, and everything was consumed by fire. At that point, everyone knew there was a God in heaven.

But after such a victory, what do you think a man like Elijah should be doing? Such a man should just go back home, relax, and rest, and the whole nation should fear him. But something else happened. Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, got to hear of how Elijah had slain the prophets of Baal and she resolved to deal with him. Scripture records,

“And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.” (1 Kings 19:1-3, KJV)

Here was a man who just slew men and brought a great victory, but he ran for his dear life. He had moved from courage to fear. He moved from being confident in his God to being fearful of Jezebel.

A man like Elijah got scared because of what he heard. This made him very depressed to the extent that he began to ask God to terminate his life on earth. All of a sudden because of this incident, he felt that his life was not so useful after all. As a matter of fact, he asked how better his life was compared to that of those who had gone ahead of him.

 

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