How to Hold Onto God When Everything Is Crashing Down
There are seasons when the foundation of life seems to crumble all at once, health fails, relationships fracture, finances collapse, and dreams shatter. In the rubble, your faith can feel like it’s failing, too. The prayers you once prayed with confidence now feel hollow, and the voice of God seems silenced by the roar of your circumstances.
In these moments, the most important thing you can do is to be brutally honest with God about how you feel. Tell Him about the doubt, the anger, the disappointment, and the feeling that He is far away. He already knows it all anyway. Pouring out your raw emotions to Him is not a sign of weak faith; it is an act of trust. Job did it. David did it. Even John the Baptist, from a prison cell, sent messengers to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3). Your honest cries are not rejected by God; they are welcomed by a Father who loves you.
When your feelings scream that God has abandoned you, you must preach truth to your soul. Your emotions are fickle and unreliable, but God’s character is unchanging and rock-solid. This is the time to speak His promises out loud, even when you don’t feel a single word of them. The psalmist modeled this perfectly when he said, “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” (Psalm 42:11).
Actively remember His past faithfulness in your life and in the stories of Scripture. Re-read the accounts of Joseph in the pit, Daniel in the lions’ den, and Jesus in the garden. These are not just stories; they are testimonies that God is at work in the darkest places, even when He is utterly invisible. Your faith is not about denying the reality of the storm, but about affirming the greater reality of the God who rules the storm.
Finally, when you cannot stand on your own faith, lean on the faith and experiences of others. This is the God-given purpose of the body of Christ. Let your brothers and sisters carry you in prayer and hold up your arms when you are too weary to fight, just as Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ arms in battle (Exodus 17:12). You keep trusting by taking one obedient step at a time, even a tiny one.
You may not feel faith, but you can choose obedience. You can whisper His name. You can open your Bible to a single verse. You can worship through the pain. This is not a denial of your struggle; it is a declaration of war against it. You are not trusting God for a specific outcome, but you are trusting in His unchanging character. The God who did not spare His own Son will surely, with Him, graciously give you all that you need to endure and overcome (Romans 8:32). The dawn will break.
