Stay Strong

There's a new song out on the radio right now by Christian artist Danny Gokey. It's called, "Stay Strong." The first part of the chorus goes like this:

But if I never see the promise
On this side of the grave
My hope might be shaken
But my faith will never break

It's a beautiful song, catchy and motivating, but I kept finding myself singing it incorrectly. Instead of singing, "my faith will never break," I kept singing, "my faith will never waive." I thought to myself, why didn't they write it as "waive"? They missed out on a perfect rhyme there - waive and grave. It sounds better. Why didn't they think of that?

It occurred to me, however, after hearing the song a few more times, the use of "break" rather than "waive" was likely quite intentional.

After all, they aren't the same.

When you read through the Old Testament, you see multiple examples of people wavering in their faith. Questioning God, why He's taking so long to respond, why He's allowing this or that to happen. You see Abraham questioning God regarding the promise that he will have offspring as many as the stars in the sky. You see Jonah questioning God's mercy to Ninevah. You see Moses questioning God's judgment and provision in the wilderness. You see David hiding in a cave, Elijah sulking under a tree, and Gideon laying out multiple fleeces.

Yet in almost all of these examples, their faith waived, but it didn't break. They ultimately submitted in surrender, bowing to their knees before God and His will.

The rest of the chorus says:

Because I know the day is coming
When You'll right all of the wrong
So I'll praise You in the waiting
And my faith will stay strong

What does it mean to praise Him in the waiting? How do we stay strong, even in face of unanswered prayers and difficulties?

I write a lot about our part - about faith in action. About the work God has given us to do, and how we can be the miracle others are waiting for. But that is not to diminish the work that HE does. God is not completely hands off in the world. He engages with us. He is near when we need Him.

There is a video I use a lot in the trauma training I teach. It’s from Brené Brown. The video (which you can watch, here) is about sympathy versus empathy, and how to be present with and respond to people when they’re in distress. There's a lot of good stuff in the video, but it's the last line which I normally like to point out the most. Brown states, "Rarely does a response make something better. What makes something better, is connection."

That line is so powerful. Sometimes when someone is upset or going through something, our impulse is to fix it or to say something that’ll make it all better. But oftentimes - we can’t fix it. We can’t make it all better. What we can do is connect with people. Provide them space to feel the emotion and to process it, and to figure out for themselves what they are going to do or how they are going to get through it.

I wonder if God sometimes doesn’t do the same thing.

We may not always hear a response to our prayers. He may not always give us one. Or at least, not the one we’re hoping for. But He is with us. And He longs to connect with us. He longs to be the space for us that holds us in our pain.

The pain and suffering we experience in this world is a side effect of free will. Free will is the ability of human beings to make their own choices and decide their own fates. Do all people have free will? Even slaves or trafficking victims or people in prison? Yes. Because even if we cannot always control our circumstances, we can control how we respond to our circumstances. And ultimately, the biggest thing we control, put quite simply, is whether we will live our lives for God, or for ourselves.

Since we have this ability to make our own choices, sometimes we will make bad ones. And sometimes others will make bad choices that negatively affect us. That, plus the fact we live in a dying world, often equals pain and suffering. It's a side effect of free will.

It's not that God causes pain and suffering or even necessarily so much as He allows it, but it is part of the package deal.

Have you ever experienced a really bad side effect? Perhaps to a medication or a treatment that was supposed to be good for you and was supposed to help? And maybe did, eventually, but first you had to deal with the side effects. Side effects can be incredibly severe. Sometimes even worse than the pain we were trying to avoid in the first place! Sometimes, they're part of the package deal, however. They have to be endured, in order to get the benefit.

God cannot take away the side effect of pain and suffering unless He takes away free will. And I don’t think that is something any of us want - nor something He wants for us. He wants to free us from obligatory automaton worship. Even in heaven, I don’t think we will be forced to worship Him. Rather, I think in light of who He is and seeing Him in his fullness, we will not be able to help ourselves but to worship Him!

God is the connection. He is with us in the waiting. He is with us in the pain. He is with us in the grief. He is with us in the struggle. He is ever present to strengthen us and connect with us and support us and encourage us and be in our corner.  He is our greatest champion.

And yes, sometimes He moves. And ohhh… When he moves. Sometimes He moves through others, through doctors and treatments and doors opening and phone calls out of the blue. Sometimes He inserts His hand into history and cures cancer or addiction or depression. Sometimes He sends angels.

I have seen His miracles. I have heard about His miracles. I know He still does great things.

So, we do our part. We live out this faith. And we lean into Him for our strength to continue onward. We pray for the miracle and we praise Him regardless of if or how He answers.

And while we are waiting, we stay strong.