The battle of the mind and soul

 oh, the battles that go on inside my mind and my soul, that noone ever really knows. - Post by cherrebomb on Boldomatic

TUE Evening Prayer Reflection 042021 (Daniel 4: 28-37; Luke 4: 31-37) 

The battle of the mind and soul

A friend once share how uncontrollable the mind can be. In an effort to try to curb negative and unpleasant thoughts, he realized that it was a tough battle. After reading today’s readings, I saw an opportunity to talk about the mind. Not only for the huge need of mental health in today’s society but also, how can we care for our minds and souls in healthy, biblical way. 1 Cor 10:31 encourages us to care for our bodies: “Whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God” This is my interpretation! Don’t judge me! Follow a healthy lifestyle, exercise… If you choose not to care for your body, you are choosing not to honor God! In Daniel 4 King Nebuchadnezzar had become very arrogant and as he was walking on the roof of his royal palace, he said: “Is this not magnificent Babylon, which I have built as a royal capital by my mighty power and for my glorious majesty?” This is something definitely anyone would not want to say. God’s reaction was immediate. A voice from heaven was heard bringing punishment for this arrogant King. God’s prediction was like a sentence to spend considerable time in the pasture eating like animals. Can we imagine this situation for a King? I think he lost his mind, meaning mentally ill. This is not the first time we hear a King struggling with mental health: King Saul often called on young David to come and play flute so that evil demons in his mind would leave him. There again, we sense the work of the Spirit of the Lord to heal someone deeply affected spiritually in his mind.

This arrogant King made me think of our ancestors Adam and Eve and their encounter with the serpent in Genesis 3: 1-24 “But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” What’s up with us, humans and our thirst for ultimate power? The prestige of holding the highest power than others? This is cause for huge dissatisfaction of God.

We should learn from Phil 2: 6: “though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness…” There is a great danger with being proud and arrogant, taking all the power. Definitely the writer of the book of Daniel wants us to see the correlation between the King’s unfortunate mental health status and his pride. I don’t know if science would agree with this, but there are lessons we can deduct from this story. It is possible to be proud and arrogant and once we realize that we are no longer number 1 in this particular field, we may get depressed or drive ourselves into the ground trying to outpace the other side. I also learned through this study that we need to learn to know our God. God loves us very much and does not want anyone to suffer or lose our minds. God wants us to be healthy, unfortunately most often we chose things that make us unhealthy. Our actions have consequences. Adam and Eve just like us, might have told themselves: “What’s the worst that can happen? Let us try it!” They fell into the serpent’s trap with its half-truths. This, I believe happens to us very often. Lord have mercy!

I am learning of the necessity to subscribe to the health of our minds and souls. There was a famous evangelical song: It is well with my soul. Is it well with your soul? I know we live in a world that increasingly pushes us to multi task, but is it really healthy for our minds and souls? Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6: 19-20.) Care for the hidden inner person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. You are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27.) For those who are broken and hurt, The Lord is near to them (Ps 34:17-20.) For those wondering about their mistakes, Jesus says: “My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12: 9).

In our Gospel lesson Luke 4, Jesus rebukes and silences unclean demons. He orders the demons to come out of the victim. One would wonder how many ills many people suffer because of these supernatural forces of darkness. We need spiritual protection. Eph 6: 12 “For we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. This is why I am convinced that these spiritual attacks may not be visible to us, but they are very real and we need to defeat them with prayer and fasting/ Confession, Holy Communion. Begin again.

 

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