Faithful
Four weeks ago, an ice storm blew through the Willamette Valley in Oregon where I live. Weather alerts warned of the approaching storm and encouraged preparation in case of power outages. We stocked up on food and batteries, and pulled the camp stove and fuel for it out of the shed. Sure enough, the storm hit and the world turned into a frozen wonderland. I didn’t mind being stuck in the house for four days. It gave me plenty of time to enjoy and ponder the beauty outside my window.
While it was bitterly cold and conditions were harsh, I also saw the faithfulness of God on display. Just as we were given warning of the coming storm, so Jesus told us “These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Trials and storms are a part of life. Everyone experiences them. Sometimes we have warning, sometimes we don’t.
As finite creatures stuck within our timeline, we have no way of knowing when a trial will occur or how long it will last. In the beginning, we feel the frost buildup. We know we are in a trial and pray for strength, wisdom, and guidance. Our walk with the Lord is fairly unimpeded and many around us may not even know that a storm is occurring in our life.
As the trial progresses, we begin to “lose the leaves” of joy and steadfastness. The strength to hold on begins to wane. We still have color, but the struggle is more apparent. We continue to pray, but the words and feelings are more desperate. Praise, worship and thanksgiving are not as easy upon our lips.
Some storms last long enough to where it feels like all of the color and fruitfulness in our life is now dormant. There is a sense of barrenness, and we feel stripped of all of our resources, strength, and hope.
Sometimes the storm goes on for so long that it can only be described as an arctic winter of the soul. These are the trials that go on for years. They are complex in nature, deeply personal, and deeply painful. The once tempestuous waters that threw us about have now themselves frozen over and our soul feels frozen, immovable, and encased in the ice of hopelessness, despair, and depression.
Our heads are just barely above the surface, but suffocation is looming. The shivering winds of fear and doubt begin to howl and swirl through our minds. “Is He really good?” “Does He even see me?” Not only do our prayers seem to go unanswered, it starts to feel like they are bouncing and we wonder if He hears our cries at all.
It is at this critical juncture that we must remember Whose we are. We must remember His faithful promises. In the midst of a years-long trial, we physically witness and experience the faithful cycle and rhythm of creation (Galatians 4:10) The darkest nights always fade into the glorious dawn of a new day. Winters thaw into the new life of spring. He is ever-present in times of trouble (Psalm 9:9), if only we have eyes to see.
I love the following quote from Alexander MacLaren’s commentary -- “The frost comes and kills the flowers, browns the leaves, cuts off the stems, binds the sweet music of the flowing rivers in silent chains, casts mists and darkness over the face of the solitary grey world, but it does not touch the life that is in the root. And so all these outward sorrows that have power over the whole of the outward life, and can slay joy and all but stifle hope, and can ban men into irrevocable darkness and unalleviated solitude, they do not touch in the smallest degree the secret bond that binds the heart to Jesus, nor in any measure affect the flow of His love to us.” (https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/maclaren_alexander/expositions-of-holy-scripture/romans/more-than-conquerors.cfm?a=1054037)
Whether your life is free of trials at the moment, or if you are in one of the various stages of a “storm,” here are some promises to cling to and meditate on as you remember His faithfulness:
· Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)
· The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)
· Thou hast taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Thy bottle; are they not in Thy book? (Psalm 56:8)
· My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)
· ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’ (Jeremiah 29:11)
· And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. (2 Corinthians 9:8)
· For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:8)
and finally…
· For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-29)
Nothing means no thing…
..not even the iciest of storms our souls sometimes endure.
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)
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