A reflex reaction is an involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement in response to a stimulus, the most well known of which is probably the patellar reflex (or knee-jerk reaction). It’s something over which we have little or no control but is innate.
Reflex reactions in people are controlled by the reflex arc, which is a nerve pathway which makes a fast, automatic response possible (with signals being passed directly from a sensory neuron via a relay neuron to a motor neurone.) Even babies have simple reflex reactions (e.g. the grasping reflex and the breathing reflex, whereby a baby will grip a finger tightly or will not breathe if underwater.) Reflex reactions include the adjustment of the pupil to light and sneezing and coughing to rid ourselves of contaminants.
Reflex reactions can, however, be learned (or conditioned), the most famous of which is probably the experiment by Pavlov in which he trained dogs to expect food in response to his stimulus of ringing a bell. The dogs were conditioned to salivate when the bell rang, even when no actual food was present.
The phrase ‘His love endures forever‘ occurs 26 times in Psalm 136. Eugene Peterson asks us, ‘Will the repetitions dull our minds into a pious stupor? Or will they condition the reflexes of our spirits to respond with quick praise to any stimulus?’ (‘Praying With the Psalms’)
Our response to many situations seems to be instinctive. This can be good, unless our responses are not Biblical. In those cases, can we really condition the reflexes of our spirits to respond to any stimulus with praise? This seems to be Paul’s goal: ‘give thanks in all circumstances’ (1 Thess 5:18), ‘always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.‘ (Eph 5:20) In other words, thanksgiving has become the ‘reflex reaction’ of the Christian. No matter what the stimulus – prosperity or need, health or sickness, happiness or misery – the response is praise. The reason for our praise is the fact of God’s enduring love, from which nothing can separate us!
My reactions need a lot more conditioning, but I want to learn to respond with quick praise to any stimulus.