I weep freely at weddings and National Day celebrations. I can’t help myself. Without fail, at some point in the proceedings, my wild joy, delight and pride suddenly gush up like a geyser, activating my tear ducts as well as the lump in my larynx.

I used to be embarrassed by this.

I’m not anymore.

Deeply felt emotions, I believe, are a blessing in today’s semi-anaesthetised world, where numbness and jadedness have understandably become a protective antidote to the meaningless chaos swirling around us.

But this must not be the lot of the Christ-follower.

Because we have a God who feels—and feels deeply.

Our God is not an aloof, impersonal and emotionally challenged Sovereign sitting on His bejewelled throne, mechanically receiving worship from His minions.

He is a God who is vividly transparent about His feelings; the possessor of deep emotions which never possess Him. His emotions are never unstable, impulsive or reactive, as ours so often are. They flow perfectly from His holy, righteous and unchanging character.

Preachers continually remind us of God’s immense love and delight in us, His joyful singing over us and His lavish compassion towards us.

And thank God for that.

But it is incomplete information.

Because God also experiences what we might call the “darker” emotions: anger, jealousy, grief, hatred and disappointment. And He experiences them without ever compromising His holiness, righteousness or perfect love.

Perhaps we would do well to preach the whole counsel of God, rather than simply returning to our favourite, reassuring passages.

Which is why, in the spirit of Paul’s prayer that we might “increase in the knowledge of God,” I decided to inquire of the Lord about His emotional heart towards His Church and this nation at this point in time.

And I asked Him specifically about the emotions we are less comfortable talking about.

I wanted to know what grieves Him.

What angers Him.

What disappoints Him.

What provokes His jealousy.

What He hates.

I simply wanted God to share something of His heart with me.

This is what I sensed the Lord saying…

“I am disappointed that My Church has forsaken being ‘salty’ salt and a ‘shining’ light in this nation.

You have neglected genuine hospitality. You have not extended friendship, belonging and community towards those from other races—especially the young. And now, disenfranchised young people are turning to the dark web in search of the acceptance and affection they have not found elsewhere, while dangerous radicalism is taking root.

My Spirit is grieved by the numerous spiritual fault lines dividing the different tribes and denominations in this nation. The stench of the pride of exclusivity rises from different quarters of My ekklesia, causing My nostrils to recoil.

I called you to serve one another with honour and in harmony. Instead, you gossip, compete and bear false witness against one another. This is a grievous state of affairs and a disgraceful testimony to the world.

My jealousy is also intensifying as I see My adulterous Bride continuing to worship the idols of bigger, better, louder and more culturally relevant.

Hype and noise are what many people are trying to escape from in the world, yet My foolish people think that these are the very things that will draw them into their church buildings.

And then you lament that your converts are deconstructing and leaving the Church, and that surveys are revealing a shocking decline in faith.

How deluded can you be? What else did you expect?

I am a righteous Judge, and I am angry with the wicked every day.

Do you know how many wicked people sit nonchalantly in the pews of the Church today? Charlatans manipulating and preying upon the vulnerable. Violent abusers of women. Habitual addicts of perversion and substance abuse. Gamblers. Rich, corrupt employers. Ravenous wolves among My sheep.

Many have insinuated themselves among My leaders, and they think that I do not see them.

But I see them.

They will not escape My wrath.

And lastly, I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I will not even notice your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.” Amos 5:21–24

How wrecking are these words!

And perhaps this is the most sobering revelation of all:

God’s emotions are not merely something for us to know and discover. They are an invitation to examine our own hearts.

If God grieves over what grieves Him, do we?

If God is angered by injustice, are we?

If God is jealous for the purity of His Bride, are we?

If God hates hypocrisy, do we hate it enough to confront it in ourselves?

If God longs for justice to roll like a mighty river, are we willing to become part of that river?

Perhaps the greatest danger is not that we discover that God has emotions we find uncomfortable.

Perhaps the greater danger is that we become so accustomed to religious activity that we no longer care about the things that break His heart.

Lord, give us hearts that feel what You feel.

Break our hearts with what breaks Yours.

Disturb us where we have become comfortable.

Convict us where we have become compromised.

And teach us not merely to worship You with our lips, but to become a people through whom justice rolls like a mighty river and righteousness flows like an unending stream. Amen