Feeling Fickle

I had this teacher along the way who would say one phrase repetitively, "Feelings are fickle". Said teacher was only trying to teach us that we cannot rely on our feelings because they will awesome lead us astray. This is true. I have noted that if everything I did was based on feelings I would make a total mess of my life. We live in the a "live for the moment" culture and often it sounds so good. Who doesn't like hearing things like that, especially when it comes to the feelings of being in love or feeling excited. Had I chased after every boy I "fell in love with" I would have lost a lot more than a friend or two in tenth grade. Not that feelings themselves are evil, just misleading. How you respond to your feelings is where we often run into problems, but I am straying just a little from the original intention. I was talking to a friend of mine recently about how her relationship with God was doing. She said that she was tired of going to church, singing songs, and reading the Bible because she didn't feel what she used to anymore. She still believed in God, but she didn't feel anything. Well, I started thinking about it this week quite a bit. You see there are some very high points in my life and also some very low points and last week on Tuesday was one of those low points. However, I see God's faithfulness in the midst of my trials because even though I was hurting I very much felt His presence. Ultimately it boiled down to His asking if I trusted Him, but before I digress again let me get to the point. It is very easy to "feel" God's presence in the hard times because He is compassionate and walks with you. It is also very easy to "feel" God in the super high points. However what about right after those times, when you come out of the valley on to the plain or come down off of the mountain. Suddenly, "feeling" God's presence is a lot more of a challenge. This is either a very good thing or a very bad thing. It is bad because we are tempted to give up, we don't "feel" like reading God's word, so we don't. It may be a very good thing as it gives more opportunity for growth or maturity. So this is the challenge I give to you (and myself). When you come out of some spiritual/emotional high or low and suddenly you are in this place where you cannot "feel" God like you used to, will you continue to pursue God? Will you work on your relationship even though the passion has diminished some?