firm through the fiercest drought and storm
// This Cornerstone, this solid ground. Firm through the fiercest drought and storm //
One of the most confusing times in my life occurred last summer: one of my coworkers died. Last week marked the first anniversary of this tragedy, and it was hard. She was young, full of life, planning a beautiful future with her fiancé. Then, without warning, it was all ripped away.
I cried. A lot. Sudden bouts of grief would appear at the randomest moments. I couldn’t predict when and where the tears would spring up. I was going through the motions at home and at work.
But God.
In the thick of my mourning, I saw God. Unchanging. Still the same, day after day. Death was a robber, and my friend’s absence was poignant. But, so too was God’s nearness.
James 1:5-7 reads, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”
All of us have doubts at some point or another. There are so many unstable things in life that it stands to reason that we would be skeptical and have questions. Why did my friend die? Why did I live? Some things I don’t think I’ll ever have answers for.
When it says “with no doubting” here, it doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to have questions or that you have to have everything figured out. With no doubting means a bedrock trust that God will be faithful—whether our circumstances look how we think they should or whether our future looks bleak. It means having an unwavering spirit, not because of the state of your life, but because of a firm confidence in the One who holds your life. This gentle trust underlies everything else.
A few years ago, I stumbled across a post on Instagram from an author who had lost her husband to suicide. She didn’t know how to process her grief and the shock that her husband was gone. That she was now a single parent. That her pastor husband had left behind a congregation of confused believers. But, in a post where she essentially admitted she didn’t have the answers and there were so many unknowns, she clung to one essential truth.
“Here’s what I know,” she wrote, undoubtedly with trembling fingers and tears streaming down her already salt-stained face. “God is faithful.”
With no doubting doesn’t mean that you can’t have doubts. It means that while you may indeed have doubts about how things will work out or if they will work out at all, you don’t doubt the One who will never fail you. You don’t doubt the goodness of God. You don’t doubt that God is who He says He is. There are things you won’t understand now, maybe ever. But you can have peace and a gentle trust that God is good.
Theologian Frederick Buechner phrases it this way:
“Without somehow destroying me in the process, how could God reveal Himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If there was no room for doubt, there would be no room for me.”
God knows. He knows that we are fragile. Psalms says that He “knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” He knows that we have an endless appetite for reasons and explanations and understanding why. He also knows how limited we are.
We can’t understand God completely. That would negate His deity. A God that we can fathom with our finite human minds is no god at all. It’s okay to have questions!
But our questioning must be coupled with that bedrock trust. The trust that is foundational to our lives. That He is foundational to our lives.
Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength. An ever-present help in trouble.” He is like an anchor.
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
Immovable.
Unshakeable.
Though storms of doubt and fear assail us, we can cling to the truth that we do know (or that we know is true even if our minds are telling us otherwise).
So, here’s what I know: God is faithful. And He is a firm foundation, solid ground to plant your feet on through the fiercest drought and storm.
