Musical Musings: Praise You In This Storm, Casting Crowns

Praise You In This Storm, Casting Crowns

I was sure by now
God, You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say “Amen”, and it’s still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
“I’m with you”
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I’ve cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry
You raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can’t find You

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
“I’m with you”
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I’ve cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I’ve cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

The Health and Wealth doctrine is a lie from the depths of Hell. Yes, I said it. Anyone who claims that living a righteous life will bring you health and physical wholeness is wrong. It's true, that living a right life will preserve you from many illnesses and injuries, but it cannot guarantee that you will never be ill or broken. It does not guarantee life forever on earth. Death is a fact of temporal life. We cannot avoid it, and the longing for perfect health is just another manifestation of the fear of Death. The promise of the Gospel is not perfect health, but of a hope of Life after Death, the removal of fear through the great and merciful gift of God. Likewise, wealth is NEVER a promise in the gospel.

If you have been deceived into believing that life in Christ means that you will never again suffer, never again doubt, never again have a sorrow in life, you have been sorely mislead. Beloved, let me speak peace to your heart: just because you struggle with your faith or your health or your wealth, it does not mean that you do not have Christ. Do not doubt your salvation, beloved, when everything seems to go wrong. Our God is far greater than ANY trouble on this temporary Earth.

That's not to say that we aren't ever responsible for our troubles; certainly if you are doing drugs and living a promiscuous lifestyle, there is very little that stands between you and disease and death. I do not mean to say that we are never responsible for the choices we make, that we never suffer consequences for our actions. No: that, too, is a lie from Hell. Being a Christian isn't a get out of trouble free card, and grace is not a license to sin freely.

What I do want to share with you today, Beloved reader, is encouragement. I want you to learn to trust in God despite the challenges of life. I want you to find Him the one and only reliable comfort, even when it seems there is no comfort to be had. I want you to walk in obedience to His commands until He tattoos it onto your soul.

Christ Himself, God Almighty veiled in human form, suffered in life. He suffered the limitations of His human form, from His life as an infant, to His obedience to the parents He'd formed in love. He hungered. He thirsted. He became tired. He fasted for 40 days and nights, and was tempted. He was hated. Several times, hands were raised against Him. And then, Beloved, He was betrayed by one of those nearest Him, sold and arrested, beaten, spat upon, whipped, mocked, pierced. He was led before the people He'd come to save, and had to listen to them call for His death. Whipped to the point just before death (and indeed, many of those who suffered the beatings He did did not survive them), He was forced to carry the instrument of His execution through the city to the site of His death. There, He suffered for hours before willingly giving up His life, having to fight for each breath to speak every word He spoke before He let the Divine Spark within Him go.

How then, Beloved, do we think we will not suffer? If God's own Son suffered so, how are we to be spared? Indeed, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God (His very breath, the pneumos) tells us that we are like sheep to be slaughtered. Jesus tells us that we will have no where to lay our heads. He tells us we will be persecuted. Hear the heartbreak at the Last Supper, when He tells Simon Peter, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

You see, Beloved, the challenge of the Christian life, of being called by the name of Christ, is not that we lead the perfect life, that we never struggle, that we never falter. It's how we respond to the trials and tests and turmoils that come. Look at the life of Job. He was righteous; God Himself points him out as righteous and faithful. And yet, Job suffers. And as long as Job does not curse God or demand justification, Job never sins. Job only falters when he demands an answer from the Creator, daring to lift himself on equal standing with the God who made him.

God makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Life is unfair. But Beloved, your heartbreak and your tears are not ignored. Psalm 56:8 tells us that God stores our tears, recording each one. In 2 Kings, God says that He has seen tears, and is moving on them. Your heartbreak has not gone unnoticed. Your pain is not empty or in vain. Your hurts are not ignored or forgotten. In Matthew, in the parable of the sheep and the goats, Christ says that things done to or for the least of His children are done to and for Him. He sees it all.

You see, the question is not if we will suffer. It's not even why we suffer... because to be honest, I cannot give an answer that will satisfy a broken heart (and I speak from profound experience here... even when I understand intellectually why suffering happens, it does not salve the wounds that God continues to heal in me). It's more... it's more a question of how we respond to our suffering. Do we curse God, and suffer lost, hopeless, and alone? Or do we dare trust that God has a purpose and plan to redeem our pain? Dare we trust God enough to praise Him for His goodness even when we struggle to see it?

That's what's at the heart of this song (and several others I've heard, such as “Held”). Our prayers to God don't make problems go away. It's learning to trust God despite the pain. It's having to faith to rest in Him when it seems we have no reason to. To praise God in the storm is not necessarily to praise Him FOR the storm, but to cling to the good things He's done and been, and to trust that even now, even in the storm and pain, He is still God, and He is still good.

When my father died, the last rock of my life was torn from me. He was the last person in my life that I really knew loved me. (It wasn't that I wasn't loved... looking back on my life as an adult, outside of the anguish of my upbringing and the torments of adolescence, I know now that I was always loved. But when I was young, I didn't know that... so the loss of my father was especially devastating.) I was truly in the midst of a storm, lost, confused, hurting. I didn't know whom I could rely upon; I'd lost the other person I knew loved me not even 6 months earlier.

I found myself clinging to the promises of God. I clung to Him, because I had to hold fast to something or be washed away in my grief. I would sing and sign silently to myself praise songs and promises just to keep it together. I learned the hard way to praise God in the deepest heartbreak of my life. And He was so faithful. He has never left me, never failed me. Even when He didn't calm the storm, He calmed me.

Beloved, you have, you are, or you will face a storm in your life. That is the nature of life. Don't listen to the liars who would discourage and defeat you by claiming your faith is too weak to be rewarded by God. Don't listen to the lies of Satan that would tell you you've failed, or that you are alone. I know, oh, Beloved, I KNOW how hard it is to find the strength to just get through each day... and it seems you have nothing left with which to praise God... and indeed, you wonder why you should, if this is what obedience to His word brings. I KNOW, Beloved. I may never have been exactly where you are, but I KNOW. And I tell you now that if you will consent to obey, even when you don't feel it, when you are honest with God and obey Him anyway, it will make a difference. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow... but in time, you will look back, and you will find He was there the whole time.

I know you're tired. I know you're weak. I know you question God. None of those things are sins. Beloved, cry out to God. “Oh, Lord, I'm so lost. I don't even know if I can praise You... this hurt is so much bigger than I can bear. But, Lord, You said that You hold my tears. You said that You will bless us when we bless You. So Lord, I choose to stand in obedience on Your promise. I can't see the light at the end. I feel alone, Lord, and I need You now so much more than I can say. But I will choose to believe that You are here, with me. I will choose to believe that You have something in this I cannot see, I may never see, but that You have redemption for this pain. I can't pretend I won't struggle, and I so wish You could make me understand why, that You could just FIX this. But I choose to recognize that You give, and You take away, and You deserve praise no matter what happens now. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.”

Beloved, you are not alone. Stand with me, take my hand as the rains pour down on us, and sing. Sing in obedience while God pours out the grace you so desperately need upon you, until you can sing in confident belief, even in your grief.

I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I’ve cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm