Riding on loud rolling thunder the storm clouds reel ever
forward causing my spirit to tremble in fear. The last tiny ray of sunlight is
finally diminished and extinguished by the endless row of opaque density. The
dark, ominous tempest appears to gain strength with every exhaled breath of brutal
gusting wind. I feel so alone and lost. Where do I turn? How can I avoid this
pitch-black fiend that seeks to overtake and ultimately destroy my life? Where
is my hope? Where is the allusive faith that I learned as a child? In the face
of this daunting storm my questions go unheeded as if God has abandoned me to a
fatal spiritual providence that seems inescapable. Where is God in this
darkness? Why doesn’t he heed my desperate prayers cast like darts at the
highest heaven? Apparently they fall
short, perhaps cast ever downward by the tumultuous storm. All seems lost, as
there is no escape. My fate is sealed as the first drops of heavy rain pelt my
weary face. The autumn sadness of my spiritual illness has finally prevailed.
What is left but to face the storm? Knowing that I stare directly into the
hungry eyes of death.
Such is the life of the spiritually destitute. Without a
strong faith foundation we are nothing more than reeds blowing in the wind.
James tells us that we are like waves of water being blown to and fro at the
mercy of the elements. Yet we want faith. We desire faith. We long to live
lives that are deeply grounded in faith. However, we often don’t wish to pay
the price of a life lived by faith, thus we live hollow lives of spiritual
destitution, not knowing where to lay our hearts or even trusting that there is
safety in Christ.
Life is full of unexpected storms and violent tempests. We
see people suffer not only in this country from poverty and lack of health, but
all around the world as well. But there is hope. In his letter to the
Philippians Paul writes, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens
me.” This means that life is not hopeless despite the unpredictable storms and hardships.
We simply have to let go of our need to control our lives and give it to
God. Does this mean that the storms of
life will go away? Absolutely not! If anything they sometimes increase as the
Adversary attempts to plant his seeds of doubt within our spirits, and cut us
off from God.
We’ve all experienced anger at God because we feel like he
doesn’t listen to us. We have all experienced the disappointment of unanswered
prayers. We have all questioned our faith in God. But the truth is, God is in
the storm. God is a part of the tempest seeking to ground us in a true reliance
on him. This doesn’t mean that God puts
us to the test all the time; it simply means that God meets us where we are in
life, even in the storms. And that my
friends is where we find faith; we discover it in the challenges of life. We experience a deeper and more sincere faith
when we bare the scares of Christ and live into his sacrificial love for one
another.
It’s not easy to live the true Christian life. It cuts
against the instant gratification driven society we live. We want deep and
secure faith, but wish to avoid the very hardships that create that faith. Sometimes
we have to stand and face the frightening storm with a trembling heart and know
that Christ is with us and will never abandon us.
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