“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”
Isaiah 54:10
This year! You know exactly what I’m talking about. Words like crazy, frustrating, confusing, and even frightening have become the daily descriptors of what 2020 has felt like to many. The daily headlines highlight society’s struggles in the pandemic, quarantines, riots, wildfires, hurricanes, political conflicts, job losses, and murder hornets! Anxiety, depression, and suicide have also increased through these trying months. Our everyday lives have been affected; some are feeling it much more than others. People close to me and you have had their worlds shaken. Their loss has been great! Perhaps your loss has been great! Yet what cannot be shaken has stood strong. What cannot be taken away has remained and will remain.
Through my own losses (minor in comparison to many), I have been forced to ask a question of myself. What am I leaning on? Who or what is the object of my trust? Is my foundation solid in the midst of the “shaking”? Am I looking for hope in places that will not hold up the weight of my faith? The object of my faith must be reliable, valid, and strong even if my faith is as small as a mustard seed. If I am leaning on a political leader or a bank account to fix things, they will surely fail. If I am counting on my best friend’s faith or my spouse’s strength, they will not be enough. I can turn to food or alcohol or shopping, but this self-medicating will not be the answer to my need. If I am hoping in my circumstances or relying on my own strength, I may as well throw in the towel now because all of these props are as fragile as a spider’s web! Those threads sure are intricate, creative, and beautiful, but I had better not lean on them if I’m falling. Job of the Old Testament reminds us that if we are forgetting God, we are not going to stand.
“So are the paths of all who forget God;
And the hope of the godless will perish,
His confidence is fragile,
And his trust is a spider’s web.
He depends on his house, but it does not stand;
He holds on to it, but it does not endure.”
Job 8:13-15
Nobody knows what the rest of this wacky year will hold or next year or the year after that. It could be rough! Life may not turn out as we have hoped. God has a way of using our situations, heartaches, and disappointments, to show us how He is the only One who can give us the strength we need, the hope we long for, and faith to see us through. His love is eternal, and He is trustworthy. Our plans fail. Fragile webs of our own construction collapse under the weight of life. Our Father’s strong and loving arms will never give out or grow tired. They will hold us through all that we encounter. They are everlasting!
The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Deuteronomy 33:27