Despair Cannot Drown Us, God is Greater

The floods have lifted up, O LORD,
     the floods have lifted up their 
           voice;
     the floods lift up their roaring.
Mightier than the thunders of 
          many waters,
     mightier than the waves of the
          sea,
     the LORD on high is mighty!
Psalm 93:3-4

Whether troubles slowly rise until we’re submerged in a flood of sorrow or hit us like an  unexpected tidal wave, whether we’re weary from treading the waters of suffering or have already sunken so deep in grief that we can barely see the surface, God is mightier.

There is no roaring flood stronger than Him. Not cancer. Not poverty. Not abuse. Not infertility. No wave can shake the Rock of Ages. He is an immovable fortress to those who’ve suffered betrayal—those broken and burned by the sins of another. He is a refuge to the one with unmet desires, unspeakable loss, unwanted diagnoses, and unrelenting depression.

Even when we feel like we’re underwater—when our vision is blurry and we can’t make sense of the shadows or see the shore—God’s eyes haven’t left us. When waves slap against our ears so persistently we can’t hear anything else, God’s words remains true. When we have nothing left to pray but screams of visceral pain, the Spirit intercedes for us. When we can’t manage to come up for breath and death looks like a welcomed friend, Christ is still alive in us. Despair may threaten to drown us, but He will keep us secure.

God isn’t troubled by raging waters, He rules them.

That is our hope—God is mightier. There is no comfort to be found if we try to minimize our suffering. When someone is drowning, we don’t say “at least the water’s warm!” Neither should we tell a grieving mother, “at least you miscarried early” or tell an abused child, “at least you’re safe now.” Because while gratitude is undoubtedly a mark of a true Christian, so is lament. Christians aren’t called to plaster over pain.

I can’t think of anything that magnifies Christ as much as the Christian who has joy in the midst of great sorrow. But we don’t get there by gritting our teeth and forcing a smile. We don’t just shallowly “look for the bright side of things.” Rather, it’s in the dark side of things that we discover God’s unmatchable worth.

We find that He is mightier. That He hears our guttural cries. That He doesn’t let go when we have no strength to hold on. That He remains when everything else is torn away. We find that nothing—no trial or tribulation—can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

He is mightier than any flood.