Fair Weather Faith

A little rain wasn't going to stop me. I had plans to hammock in the park on my day off, and I wasn't going to let it "rain on my plans" (pun intended). Plus, this was a perfectly good excuse to test out my new rain fly for my Eno, so I packed up my gear and headed to the park on this perfectly rainy day. Needless to say, I had the place to myself. 

And just in case you were wondering, my rain fly worked beautifully and I thoroughly enjoyed my hammocking in the park after all. 

I suppose you could say that I am no fair-weather camper. Perhaps I learned it from my dad, who never lets the weather stop him from a good camping trip. He will camp when the forecast is raining, saying that the best napping occurs to the putter-patter of rain on the tent. He even loves to camp when it is crazy cold...like in the dead-of-December, 25-degrees-at-night kind of cold. I will admit, that kind of cold makes the campfires extra enjoyable. I love snuggling down into my down sleeping bag at night with long underwear and tucking my whole face into the sleeping bag until only my nose sticks out. If you only camp when it's 70 and sunny, you miss out on half the fun. 

In the same way, I don't want to have fair-weather faith. After all, we are guaranteed to have suffering in this world, and our sufferings in Christ must overflow in order for our comfort to overflow in him (1 Corinthians 1:5). Like rain on a tent, the thunderstorms of life make sleeping in Jesus' arms that much sweeter. Like cold weather, the bitterness of life's winters make the warmth of God's love more tangible. If you only have faith when it's 70 and sunny, you miss out on half of who God is. We experience his grace, sufficiency, sovereignty, and love so much more extravagantly when we go through trials and tribulations, sufferings and loss. It doesn't make sense entirely to me - this paradox of such beauty in suffering- and I don't know if I can even explain it, but it sure is wonderful. 

Thank you Jesus, for how near and powerful you are when we go through storms. Thank you for being our shelter of protection in the rain. Thank you that no storm can "rain on your plans". You give us faith to weather storms with confidence and grace, and we can even enjoy resting peacefully throughout the storms because we are safe and dry under your love. 

The foundation to having a faith that is not affected by the weather is this: the living and active Word of God. The Bible is a solid foundation of truth that never changes and yet always applies to life, especially during the storms that we face.

I have recently rediscovered the deep reality of that statement this week as I have returned to the word of God after a period of time without it. I must regrettably but honestly confess that I have unnecessarily and unintentionally gone without purposeful daily bible reading for a little while, and I suddenly realized how badly I missed it because I noticed a significant difference in my life. I was hungry. After not being in God's word on a daily basis, tasting it anew this week has been sweet to my soul. And it is changing me from the inside out. 

This week, my family gathered for the celebration of my sister's high school graduation. Much to the delight of my two young cousins, we indulged in a chocolate on chocolate on chocolate ice cream cake. You should have seen their bulging eyes as they licked their lips in eager anticipation of that cake! "If you can't tell, they don't get sugar that much," my aunt said with a laugh. How sweet that cake was to those kids who only have sweets in their house on occasion, and how sweet God's Word was to my heart this week when I tasted it afresh. Only unlike the cake, the life-giving Scriptures have nutrition for the soul that sustains and strengthens it, making it more healthy and alive. 

Each time we open the Bible, we will find a feast of treasures that are sweet to the taste and satisfying to the spirit. And it is these truth- and promise-filled words that give us the strength needed to weather the storms. I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it with all my heart, and I only believe it because I have experienced it to be absolutely true. 

So the next time it rains, forget the fair-weather faith and and enjoy the company of Jesus Christ as you go through storms under the shelter of his wings.