Through the Storm

"It is well, it is well
Through the storm I am held
It is well, it is well with my soul"

I've heard people say before, "God promises to never put us through more than we can bear." But that's not actually what the verse says. People are referencing 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says "...God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." Meaning God won't put us in a situation where there is no way out but to sin - he always gives us a way out.

It doesn't mean circumstances in life won't be more than we can handle alone. Sometimes things happen in our life that bring us to our knees. Sometimes it's more than we can hold.

And, really, if we could do everything on our own, what would be the point of God? If we could bear life alone, we wouldn't need to give our burdens to Christ. By surrendering our circumstances to Him, though, we draw so much closer.

When we were singing "It Is Well With My Soul" in church this morning, this is the way I thought of it: If I can stand up under life by myself, if I don't need God's help, if I can keep walking on my own, then I wouldn't need God. But if I'm brought to my knees by life, that is when God can hold me through the storm.

There's an age that toddlers reach where they want to do everything by themselves, because they're learning how to be independant. If there's a two-year-old who is determined to walk somewhere by themselves, and you pick them up and hold them, they aren't going to sit contentedly in your arms - they'll squirm and wriggle until you put them down. We're like that with God sometimes. If he tries to draw us in when life is great and everything's going great, we try to squirm and get away so we can get to what we want to do. But if that toddler trips and skins his knee - if something happens in life and we fall and we're brought to tears - they'll run back into the arms of their Father for comfort.

I'm not saying God causes bad things to happen to us, because I don't believe he does. Good things are from God, but he can use the bad things for good. When things happen in life that bring us to our knees, he can hold us through the storm and comfort us where no one else can. When it seems like we're most alone, God is sometimes the closest. He'll never leave us or forsake us. Through the storm we are held.