God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
It is this promise, the promise of his presence, that I find myself clinging to. It does not solve all of my problems or even make my problems less severe. (Sometimes, rather, hoping in him seems to raise more questions than it answers). But that is the way of it—and that is the only way to seek him.
Simple faith is undone easily. Relationship with God is no simple thing. Complex faith will make your head spin and leave you, at times, crying or screaming even as you insist that you do believe. This is the faith of prophets. This is the faith Jesus had. This is the faith God calls us to. A faith that is complex and includes (rather than “solves”) the problem of suffering.
