Panic, like fear, grips us with such a fierce stranglehold that it often alters the way we think, act, and feel.

Many of us have a hard time expressing our emotions. We may flounder because we think they mostly torment us. I’ve experienced this many times. Or we just don’t know what to do with some of them, like passion or anger.

When fear seizes us we have a hard time thinking clearly. Seeing straight. Making wise decisions.

Guilt holds us hostage. When it grips me, I can sense it poisoning my thoughts, relationships, and actions, calling into question everything that has seemed true about me and others.  

Another emotion that often surfaces when our lives don’t seem to go the way we imagine is intimidation. It shrouds the truth. Hides what is real.

Think about how frustration appears in your life.

Do you feel jealous?

Like you’ve been robbed of certain experiences?

Cynical about your future?

Ungrateful for the little things around you?

We live in a wider culture that seems caught up in a blowing wind of changing identity. It used to be we altered our personality based on the people around us. Now, we question our very essence.

Why am I here?

Does my sex make a difference?

How does it contribute to who I am?

How can I know?

At the heart of shame and hiding is the bitter effect of fear.

And fear is poisonous, isn’t it?

How many times a day do you say something negative or condemning to yourself about your looks, your weight, your complexion, or your physique? What’s your reaction? How do the messages make you feel?

Would you say there is a bitter impact on your relationships when you decide to hide from others?

The thing is, how we relate to others can lead to something bitter relationally. Something that causes hurt. Fracture. Misunderstanding.

Often, when we look at the story of Adam and Eve, we focus mainly on their downfall. What theologians call “The Fall.” Rarely, however, do we pay much attention to the relational implications of their decision. Think about it this way. What exactly changed in their relationship with each other, themselves individually, and their relationship with God when they decided to go their own way?

Since God never hesitates or hides from us relationally, but instead, always pursues us and continually speaks to us, what does He say? Think about it personally, what’s been your experience of listening to His voice of love this past week?

Does God hesitate relationally with us? Drag His feet? Stall? Stay back? Hide?

In other words, is He like us in relationships? If not, then what is He like?

When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” (Gen 3:8-9, NLT).

There’s a place in our lives we oftentimes hesitate. It’s in relationships. For those of us who are older, we’ve lived the majority of our lives. Because of this, many of us have accumulated relational hurt and pain we may sense in the pathways of our minds, through our memories. We may also sense it in our hearts. The thing is, over time they provoke relational hesitation within us, whether we are aware of it or not. We stall. We drag our feet. We flounder. Intimacy, attachment, and enjoyment elude us. Yes, even enjoyment. How many relationships are you currently in that you enjoy? Where you feel like you can be yourself?

What in your life are you hesitating doing?

Many of us are low on hope because we’re stalling. Dragging our feet. Standing still.

Where is it for you?

Hope is one of those words in our culture that is essentially meaningless. It’s often used to project a good feeling or a wishful outcome. The aspiration is baseless. Not rooted in anything other than human sentiment. On its own, this hope can’t deliver, no matter how well-meaning it is. Therefore, some of us end up believing our lives are left to some whim of fate or cosmic force.

So many of us question our existence. We wonder why we’re here. What our purpose is.

We often wander. From job to job. Relationship to relationship. Friendship to friendship. City to city. Church to church. We’re trying to figure things out. Make sense of who we are.

Difficulty often brings disorientation. Questions. Wonderings. Sometimes our thoughts are in conflict with related emotions. At other times, they are in conflict with unrelated ones. Either way, our disorientation can cause us to feel like we’re swirling out of control. We might wonder where God is and what He’s doing. Does He still rescue?

Many of us are disconnected from our true selves, the person God created us to be. We sense it emotionally, inside us, and relationally, as we interact with others. But we’re not sure why. We’re also not sure how to change it.

Do you believe your life has value? When you look in a mirror, how do you see yourself? How does it influence the way you relate to yourself? How do you treat yourself? Is it with criticism, or is it with love and kindness?