PEACE IN ADVERSITY

ALVIN TAN

The journey of life is often likened to a topographical environment, with its peaks and valleys. We tap into this metaphor when we describe things as “looking up” or “going downhill”, for example. As experience attesta, this landscape is challenging to navigate, and we often find ourselves in the troughs: the low points of our lives — perhaps caused by trying situations, poor decision making, or some combination of the two. When the adversity of life kicks us down to the doldrums, the ability to climb back up is known as psychological resilience, a virtue particularly deserving of attention given the global turmoil of the past few years.[1]

One critical facet of resilience is emotional regulation — the ability to quell the impact of grief, to quieten the flames of anger, and to bear the weight of disappointment. Being able to self-regulate one’s emotions is important to be efficacious and respond appropriately to emotionally significant circumstances, and has been shown to be related to well-being.[2]

The psychological mechanisms underlying emotional regulation can be conceptualized using the framework of the extended process model, which is based on a fourstep sequence of emotion processing: 1) an emotional situation occurs, 2) attention is directed towards such a situation, 3) the situation is interpreted and appraised, and 4) a behavioral response is generated.[3] Each of these steps can be addressed via regulatory processes, which are mechanisms that allow individuals to intervene and modify their own emotional outcomes. However, regulation often requires a lot of self-control, since one would need to evaluate and implement regulatory processes while in the midst of emotionally charged situations. How, then, do we learn to improve the way in which we regulate our emotions?

I believe that the Bible offers us generous wisdom in this regard. The key idea is that emotional regulation for the Christian focuses not on the individual, but rather on God. While not theologically revolutionary, this notion gives us greater clarity on how we can meaningfully understand and approach our emotions in a manner that is both psychologically and spiritually meaningful.

First, the Bible encourages us to shift our attentional deployment (Step 2) by focusing not on the situation, or on ourselves, but on God. Isaiah 26:3 puts this beautifully: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Arguably the most well known illustration of this idea is the story of Peter walking on the water in Matthew 14:28-31. Jesus calls Peter to come out of the boat and onto the water, and he does begin to walk out, until he sees the wind and becomes afraid, at which point he starts to sink. Jesus reaches out to save him and says, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”[4] Peter doubted because he looked towards the storm, instead of keeping his gaze on Jesus; as a result, the wind appeared much more intimidating and insurmountable. We must not lose sight of the God Who is far greater and more powerful than any challenge; indeed, the author of the letter to the Hebrews exhorts us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” in order to persevere to complete the pilgrim’s trek. [5] Shifting our attention onto God helps us to keep our circumstances in perspective, since we know that every adversity pales in comparison with our almighty God.

The Bible also gives us handles to reappraise our situations (Step 3) by interpreting them in light of a greater vision of God’s kingdom and will. As Christians, we can anchor our hope on the resurrected Christ, whom we know will usher in a new creation where mourning and pain will cease.[6] As a result, Paul can confidently claim that any current affliction is but “light [and] momentary”, in preparation for “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”[7] In fact, James even goes as far as instructing us to “count it all joy … when [we] meet trials of various kinds, for [we] know that the testing of [our] faith produces steadfastness.”[8] When we face challenges, we can approach them not by ignoring the difficulty of the situation, but by re-evaluating their value for our spiritual formation, keeping in mind that something of far greater value is still to come.

Finally, the Bible also teaches us to modulate our responses (Step 4), choosing joy instead of wallowing in our negative emotions. As pastor and author David Mathis put it, “joy is not optional.” We see commands to be joyful all through the Bible: “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!”; “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!”[9] The grand summary comes in 1 Thessalonians 5:16: “Rejoice always.” Note that our joy is not contingent on our circumstances, or even on our feelings; rather, we are supposed to choose joy regardless of the situation, as a result of our recognition of how good God has been to us.[10] And how can we ever deny the vast and gracious goodness of our God, who let His Son take on the ultimate suffering of death in our place? It is little wonder, then, that as the Holy Spirit teaches and reminds us about the person of Christ, joy is a natural part of the fruit that develops.[11]

Bringing these ideas together, the Bible encourages us to focus on God, to re-evaluate our suffering, and to always choose joy. These actions are anchored on the person and character of God, so we can be confident that the underlying truths remain steadfast regardless of how we feel in any situation.

Astute readers may notice that we did not consider the role of Step 1 — the situation itself. The extended process model does in fact propose that individuals can select or modify the situations they find themselves in, so as to change the types of emotions they would even be prone to experience. Unfortunately, this is not an option for the Christian — Jesus promises us that we will suffer just as he did, simply because our transformed lives will be at odds with the prevailing culture around us.[12] Neither can we hide away and avoid conflict, because we are the light of the world, intended to make God’s glory known.[13] The reality of suffering is a reflection of the fundamental brokenness of the world that we are a part of.

But lest we are filled with an inconsolable despair at this state, we should listen to Jesus’ words to his disciples right before he is arrested: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”[14] In the face of certain suffering, we can nonetheless have peace by resting in Christ’s certain and complete victory, and through His victory our own also. It is this foundation that allows us to regulate our emotions with the certainty that this is not all for naught; instead, we can traverse the landscape of life’s valleys towards a positive trajectory, overcoming just as Christ has overcome.

So as we approach the adversities that are sure to come our way, let us come to rest in God’s peace by recentering our hearts on the risen Christ — the One who gives us a grounded foundation to regulate our emotions effectively. In doing so, we can also learn how to become peacemakers and to seek the peace of our land, demonstrating to others what a life of peace in Christ truly looks like — a peace that is confident, expansive, and transcendent, far beyond anything we can understand or imagine — pressing on to the summit of the City of God.[15] ❖

[1] Fletcher, David, and Mustafa Sarkar. “Psychological Resilience.” European Psychologist, vol. 18, no. 1, 8 Apr. 2013, pp. 12–23.

[2] Diener, Ed. The Science of Well-Being. Springer, 2009.

[3] Gross, James J. “The Extended Process Model of Emotion Regulation: Elaborations, Applications, and Future Directions.” Psychological Inquiry, vol. 26, no. 1, 9 Mar. 2015, pp. 130–137.

[4] Matthew 14:31b, ESV.

[5] Hebrews 12:2, NIV.

[6] Revelation 21:4.

[7] 2 Corinthians 4:17, ESV; see also Romans 1:8.

[8] James 1:2-3, ESV.

[9] Psalm 32:11, ESV; Philippians 4:4, ESV.

[10] Deuteronomy 26:11.

[11] Galatians 5:22-23.

[12] John 15:20.

[13] Matthew 5:14-16.

[14] John 16:33, ESV, emphasis added.

[15] Matthew 5:9; Jeremiah 29:7.

Alvin Tan is a PhD student in Psychology who is interested in how children's early environments shape their language learning. He is also involved in IVGrad, and can otherwise be found engrossed in a good book, a board game, or a puzzlehunt.