What’s the Bedrock of Faith?
Each Christian has within their soul a bedrock of faith. These are the areas where your faith feels rock solid. For instance, as a teenager, I believed there was no God. But after years of walking with Christ, I’m now 100% anchored in the truth that my Savior, my Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit are living and active in my life. This certainty has become part of my spiritual bedrock. Satan’s old lie doesn’t work anymore. I can never doubt God’s existence again.
He’s done too much for me.
When things get rough, discovering what you truly believe at that moment is very important. Because it’s solid faith you can stand on.
The St. Francis Dam
We now know it’s critical to anchor dams on bedrock. But unfortunately, it took a life-destroying tragedy to cement that truth in the minds of hydroelectric engineers forever.
After 2 years of construction, the St. Francis Dam opened and began filling it’s reservoir on May 4th, 1926. The water was meant to help supply the thirsty, rapidly growing Los Angeles population 40 miles away during droughts. The dam’s engineers had reason to be proud of the massive concrete structure they’d built. Over time the reservoir filled to capacity, storing several months worth of water.
Why the St. Francis Dam Collapsed
Two years later, at midnight on March 12, 1928 the St. Francois Dam catastrophically failed. A giant 13-story wave cascaded down the canyon at 18 miles an hour, At least 430 people died. Many more bodies were swept into the Pacific and never recovered. Whole towns got obliterated.
Subsequent investigation determined the cause. After the dam filled to capacity, water began saturating the soil anchoring the dam on either side. Muddy water also seeped from underneath the dam. William Mulholland, the chief engineer of the Bureau of Water Works and Supply and the dam’s creator, was informed and inspected the site early on March 12. He saw problems but no immediate danger. Several hours later, at midnight, first one side of the dam broke free and then the other, unleashing a 140 foot tall wave of water. It destroyed everything and eventually emptied into the Pacific Ocean at 5 AM the next morning.
Alerting Those in Danger
Throughout the night, telephone operators dialed households downstream, warning people to get to higher ground. Meanwhile, two highway patrol officers on motorcycles, sirens screaming, risked their lives to wake whole neighborhoods, alerting them to the danger. 100s of people were saved.
The dam wasn’t built on a solid foundation of bedrock. St Francis’ designers believed that the massive structure itself would contain the weight of a lake full of water.
They were wrong.
As one author put it,
Strong as it was, for practical purposes St. Francois Dam had feet of putty.
— Webb Garrison, Disasters that Made History
Anchored in the Rock
In contrast, the Hoover Dam is firmly anchored in stone.
It opened in 1936, eight years after the St. Francis disaster. Over 85 years later Hoover Dam still supplies people with water and electricity.
What’s true about dam construction also applies to us. Digging down to find the bedrock is critical during times of stress. Every Christian has certain spiritual truths they believe both mentally and emotionally. This anchors our faith when life knocks us down, then steps on us.
Weak Prayers
Let me be honest. During bad times, I often pray ‘panic prayers.’ I suddenly forget God’s goodness. Instead, I plead and beg for Him to answer. My emotions keep flaring up into agony. There’s no peace or strength. No trust in my Redeemer. I know Jesus hears me, but I can’t seem to reach Him. Emotional pain makes me feel very far removed from my tender, loving Father, just when I need Him the most.
The Day I Started Digging
Time to dig for bedrock.
Grab a metaphysical shovel and I’ll teach you how, by sharing a little of my own story.
In Dec 2012, my only brother lay dying in a Michigan hospital after attempting suicide.
My agony came because Chris was a lifelong atheist. Jesus wasn’t his Savior.
I could cope with him dying. But I couldn’t stand the thought of my brother going to hell. I spent four days with him, as my brother lay unconscious in an Intensive Care room. During the first three days, my mind overflowed with panicked, pleading prayers. Other friends prayed too. I knew the Holy Spirit was working in Chris’ heart. But the knowledge gave me no comfort.
Uncovering my Bedrock of Faith
One night, a godly woman friend called and reminded me about the strength of worshiping in Chris’ room. Living on “emotional overload” I had completely forgotten the power of singing praises to God.
I’d gone to church every week for decades, but only 4 songs came to my mind. So I sang those 4 worship songs over repeatedly, and prayed, thanking God for His sovereignty and lovingkindness. Soon I began to feel joy and the Holy Spirit’s presence for the first time since I’d received that dreadful phone call.
When I started to worship, I picked up my shovel and begun digging through all the emotional noise, dirt and rubbish which clogged my thinking. Praising God for an hour or two gave me relief from my heartbreak, fear and anxiety.
Instead, I started focusing on the Almighty’s holiness and mercy. My heart filled with God’s peace again. A few hours later, strengthened in my spirit from all the worship, I sat down with a pen and paper.
I had finally dug deep enough to uncover my bedrock level of faith.
Standing on the Truth I Knew
I asked myself, “At this moment, what do I truly believe?” and ended up writing down five things about my situation. Each one felt solid and filled with faith.
1 God, You love my brother more than I do. (True.)
2 God, You want my brother saved more than I do. (Very true.)
3 Lord, You have numbered Chris’ days and he will not live one hour longer or die one minute sooner than You decree. (Yes, Lord, I believe this.)
4 Neither my good decisions or my bad ones will determine my brother’s eternal destiny. (The time fast approached when I would need to put Chris on comfort care. At that point, the medical staff would stop trying to keep him alive.)
5 God, You are able to keep Chris alive until the spiritual work is done. (Yes, Lord.)
Those 5 basic statements of faith allowed me to release Chris into Jesus’ loving arms and trust Him with someone very precious to me. My brother died the next day, but ever since then, I’ve had peace. Whenever I think about Chris, three statements enter my mind: “He’s safe.” “He’s okay.” “I’ll see him again.”
God, You are so good.
All Images are from Pixabay.com
Resources:
I don’t know the identity of the first dam in my post. But it isn’t the St. Francois Dam. Below is my link to a news story complete with a photo of the dam’s remains called “The Collapse of St. Francois Dam was one of California’s most Searing Tragedies.
A 11 minute YouTube video titled The St Francis Dam Disaster / A Short Documentary shares additional details.
