Life often feels like a pendulum. One moment we are soaring with confidence in God, and the next we are weighed down by doubts, grief, or fear. These swings do not mean we have lost faith. They mean we are human. Life’s blows can knock us off balance, but the beauty of God’s grace is that His strength steadies us when ours gives way.
The Swings of Our Journey
Faith is not a straight line. It is not a neatly drawn path where every step feels steady, and every prayer feels strong. Instead, faith is lived in the messiness of real life, with its highs and lows, its laughter and its tears. There are days when praise flows easily. Our hearts feel light, our prayers rise naturally, and we sense God’s nearness as clearly as the sun on our faces. On days like these, it seems almost effortless to say, “God is good,” because joy makes the words sweet on our lips.
But then there are other days. Days when the ground shifts beneath us with no warning. A medical diagnosis changes the story we thought we were living. A phone call delivers news that shatters our peace. The death of a loved one leaves an ache too deep for words. And suddenly, faith feels fragile, not gone, but shaken, trembling, vulnerable. In those moments, we can mistake the weakness of our emotions for a weakness of faith.
Yet this is where the grace of God breaks through. He does not hold a measuring stick to our feelings. He does not withdraw His love when our confidence falters. Instead, He meets us in our humanity, drawing close to us not when we are strong, but when we are undone.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18
That is the steady truth beneath the swing: even when our hearts waver, God leans in. He draws near to the places where we feel fragile, reminding us that His presence is not dependent on our stability. He is faithful even when we are not.
Biblical Companions in the Pendulum
We are not the first to experience the swing. The story of God’s people through Scripture is not one of perfect, unbroken trust. Elijah, Job, and David all reveal the same truth: even faithful servants are sometimes overcome by fear, sorrow, or despair. Their humanity did not disqualify them from God’s care, rather, it gave God the opportunity to meet them with fresh grace. Their faltering reminds us that the life of faith is not about never wavering, but about discovering God’s steady presence in the middle of the swing.
Elijah stood strong on Mount Carmel, calling down fire from heaven and defeating Baal’s prophets.
“The fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice.”
1 Kings 18:38
Yet when Jezebel threatened him, he fled into the wilderness, praying to die.
“I have had enough, Lord… Take my life.” 1 Kings 19:4
Note: We often criticize Elijah for this, but who among us hasn’t gone from bold confidence to despair in the span of a breath?
Job sat in ashes, questioning why God allowed such deep suffering. Though he never cursed God, his lament revealed how fragile faith can feel when life unravels.
“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” Job 13:15
David wrote psalms that move from joyful trust:
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1
to cries of anguish:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Psalm 22:1
Note: His pendulum swings are preserved as Scripture, reminding us that God can handle our shifts.
Finding God in Our Wounds
The truth of the gospel is not that God only meets us in our strength, but that He chooses to dwell in our weakness. Our wounds are not proof that our faith has failed; they are places where we encounter the wounded Savior. It is in the raw places, the grief we cannot fix, the questions that have no answers, the nights we cry ourselves to sleep, that Christ draws closest. He is not repelled by our brokenness but moved with compassion. When life’s pendulum swings us hard into sorrow or despair, Jesus does not stand at a distance, waiting for us to recover. Instead, He enters the place of our pain and sits with us there.
“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering… and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5
Looking Inward, Meeting Christ
When life shakes our faith, it is tempting to look inward and criticize ourselves: Why is my faith so weak? Why can’t I just believe more firmly? But we already know why. Our humanity is fragile, marred by sin and limitation. The point of looking inward is not to find fault, it is to find Christ within our woundedness. In our brokenness, we discover that He is suffering with us. In our grief, we realize He is crying with us. In our pain, we feel His presence carrying us. And in the very places we feel most undone, He extends His kindness, His faith, and His strength to us. It is only through His power that the shift begins, the pendulum swinging back, not by our effort, but by His Spirit. From the jagged edges of sorrow, we begin to sense peace again. From the depths of weakness, His life rises in us.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18
Christ’s Faith Holds Us
The good news is that faith is not sustained by our own strength. If it were, we would all falter beyond recovery, for our humanity is too fragile to hold the weight of every trial. But Christ never asked us to carry the journey alone. He not only gives us promises, He gives us Himself. His own faith, His own perseverance, His own victory become ours when our hearts are weary. We are upheld not by the size of our belief but by the steadfastness of His.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
When our faith falters, Christ’s faithfulness stands. When our grip slips, His hand holds firm.
“If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13
Note: We honor our emotions, we name them, and we confess our limits. But we do not stay there. The Holy Spirit breathes courage back into weary souls. Jesus lends us His own faith so that we are never left to finish the journey alone.
Reset by the Spirit
Like a pendulum, our hearts may swing. One day we are filled with strength, energy, and confidence; the next we are heavy with grief, fatigue, or doubt. But unlike a pendulum that is bound to swing endlessly, our lives are not trapped in motion without rest. The Spirit has the power to reset us, to bring us back to center, and to remind us of God’s unshakable love.
“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:31
I have known this swing in my own life. There have been seasons when I felt strong, preaching with joy, teaching with passion, and pouring into others with a full heart. And then there were days when grief and exhaustion knocked me flat, and I wondered if I had the strength to keep going. One of the hardest seasons came when I lost two father figures within a single year. Their absence left a hollow space, and grief swung me to the far side of sorrow. It felt like being pulled hard to the left, overwhelmed, unsteady, and uncertain of how to rise again. My heart longed for their voices, their wisdom, their presence. In that season, I questioned how to keep moving forward when the people who had steadied me were gone.
Yet it was in that same season that God revealed Himself more deeply as my Heavenly Father. Slowly, gently, the Holy Spirit met me in the ache. His kindness did not rush me through grief; His calm presence gave me space to weep; His patience carried me until I could feel joy again. Sometimes the reset came through the faithful prayers of friends and community. Sometimes it came through a verse of Scripture that seemed to breathe hope into my weary soul. And sometimes it came simply by sitting still long enough for God’s presence to meet me in my weakness. Every time I’ve been knocked off balance, the Spirit has found a way to steady me. The pendulum still swings, but I am tethered to God, who never let us go.
Note: Whether we are on the mountaintop or in the valley, God’s presence remains. His love does not swing with our moods, it is the steady center that holds us when everything else is in motion.
Thank you my God
Closure
Faith is not about never wavering, it’s about being tethered.
Even when we swing, we are anchored in Christ.
“When I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10
When our strength is gone,
His strength is perfect.
When our faith is fragile,
His faith is enough.
And so we must walk on,
Not with flawless confidence,
But with the assurance that we are held.
