Recently my sons asked me, “Dad, where does metal come from?” “The mountain?” I admit that I am not a geologist or an expert on fine metals, but I told them it comes from the earth and the rock in it. We know that reality is never this simple, even when we are talking about metal. We understand that metal must be mined, refined, and formed to make the structures and products we enjoy today. Metal doesn’t just appear, ready for use. It must be worked.
As the poem and psalm below attest, faith in God is similar to metal. Faith in God is not always easy or on the surface “ready for use.” Although faith is not easy, it is definitely there ready to be “mined.” God’s presence is always with us even in the darkest hours of our life. In those dark hours we seek him and call out His name. Often, it’s in the desperate “mining” of the dark mountain in life, that we see His greatness.
When we seek God we learn that everything isn’t as obscure and difficult as we supposed. In the unsearchable depths of God’s greatness we find gold. We discover that we do not seek God but God seeks us. There divine faith finds us and we are strengthened, we put our hope in God our Savior. It’s where we praise him and our souls are lifted up. God is a resource who wants to be found. To us, faith is a paradox: it must be worked to be strengthened yet the act of working faith reveals that it is a gift given to us by a God who is readily available.
It’s easy for us to forget where things come from and what goes into their making. My sons reminded me of this truth. Metal is a gift from God. It’s easy to forget all the blessings we have around us and our experiences in life are gifts. It’s easy to forget God’s faithfulness when we bury His goodness in the mountains of today’s troubles and past wounds. But when we “mine” — when we put aside our concerns and remember Him and place our hope in Him, we find an uncommon faith, a presence that lifts our downcast weary souls. God is the resource who finds us! And his faith never fails.
Faith Never Fails (Poem)
Push deep into the deepest of deep
Invisible, no weight, naught
No vocal
The presence of your being is everlasting.
Wait, don’t pull away.
He, she, they all sense
The mystic,
Echoing and tip toeing into the hearts
Always reaching every single one
Can you sense it?
Psalm 42:5b-8, 11
My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
8 By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.