Have you ever driven through a thick fog? It’s almost impossible to see further than what’s right in front of you. A lot of times, especially when we go through hard things, life feels like we’re driving through a thick fog.
When will it end? Will it ever lift?
Will I ever get promoted?
Can I just be happy, please?
Will the heaviness from depression or anxiety ever feel lighter?
Will my marriage ever feel healthy?
Can I please just catch a break?
Will I always feel this shame?
The sickness – will it ever end?
Will this grief ever lessen?
Can you hear me, God?
Whether it’s financial, relational, emotional, mental, physical, or even spiritual, we all experience foggy times– just going through the motions. However, I think God uses the fog at times to protect us from seeing the big picture. He shows us just enough to move us forward, because if we could see everything that’s coming, we would be too scared or too overwhelmed to take the next step.
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Faith is believing without seeing the entire picture. Faith is taking the next step even when we don’t quite know where we are walking. To echo Paul, our human experience requires us to have blind faith.
When our son died, a lot of people couldn’t understand how or why we still trusted God. How could He be good and trustworthy amongst the pain we were feeling from loss they wondered. However, from our point of view, how could He not be good and trustworthy still? Christ suffered for us, and through our suffering, we felt a tiny fraction of what He experienced on the cross. We chose to believe Paul’s words in Romans 8:18 that read, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.” It doesn’t mean we didn’t and don’t feel sad about losing Carson. Rather it means that we have hope in what’s to come through Jesus.
In Romans 10:17, Paul also wrote, “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.” Christ suffered a death He didn’t deserve for the good of humanity. It was God’s plan that He would be the ultimate and final sacrifice for our sin. Since He died for each of us, we now rely on Him. By having a personal relationship with Him, we now have access to our Father in Heaven – not because of what we do but because of what He did.
Because Christ died for us, we are called “...[to] be imitators of God…” In doing that, it means we will suffer physically, emotionally, mentally, and sometimes even spiritually. However, to be imitators of God means that when we do suffer, as Christ did, we do it with grace, compassion, and trust that God’s plan is bigger than what we’re experiencing in this specific moment.
Honestly, sometimes it’s just about taking the next step through the fog to get where we’re going.
As believers in Christ, we aren’t promised butterflies and rainbows in our human experience. But we are promised faithfulness from God (2 Thessalonians 3:3).
As believers in Christ, we aren’t promised a painless human experience, but we are promised treasures in Heaven with our Savior (Matthew 6:19-21).
As believers in Christ, we aren’t promised happiness, but we are given joy which is everlasting (John 15:11).
My friends, if you’re in foggy territory right now and you can’t see beyond the next step, I want to encourage you to continue moving forward. Take the next step. Hold on to the faith that you’ve been given, and fight for it. Did you know there are over 8,000 promises in the Bible? Of those over 7,000 are promises from God to us, humankind. Lean into those promises and keep moving forward. Write a couple and hang them on your door, in your car, near a mirror, or by your bed. And remember: even though we can’t see God, He is with us in the fog. The fog will lift, my friend, just keep taking the next step. Praying that for you this week.
“Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
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