I found God lookin’ for the devil…
Sometimes you’re drivin’
Sometimes you’re stallin’
Sometimes you’re flyin’
Sometimes you’re fallin’
But there’s still beauty in the nosedive

Post Malone, “Nosedive” 

These lyrics stopped me in my tracks. Songwriters are some of the greatest poets of our time, and Post Malone’s song “Nosedive” puts to words a spiritual experience that’s crucial to our faith. We can’t be afraid of failure and defeat because it’s our “nosedives” that lead us exactly where we need to be.

Sometimes what seems like a “nosedive” is really God shaping our character. The Scriptures tell us in Proverbs 17 that God tests our hearts like a crucible tests and purifies silver:

A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.

Proverbs 17:3 BSB

What does it mean that God is the tester of hearts? He’s not testing us in the sense of giving us a passing or failing grade. The kind of testing God does is giving us opportunities to learn through life how to become spiritual and develop conviction. 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

To be spiritual, and to have faith, we need conviction about the things we can’t see. A conviction is an unshakeable belief, and it leads to tremendous courage. 

Many times in my life, these convictions have been built through the crucible of life lessons—of failure, defeat, and the pain of seeing my sins. I would describe all of these as “nosedives” in the words of Post Malone:

It’s always worse before the better I suppose
And how far down it’s hard to tell
When to buy and when to sell
Cuz that comedown it hurts like hell
And every thorn has it’s rose…
Sometimes you’re runnin’
Sometimes you’re crawlin’
Sometimes you’re broke
Sometimes you’re ballin’
But there’s still beauty in the nosedive

Post Malone, “Nosedive”

There’s beauty in the nosedive. As God shapes our character, this develops conviction, which leads to tremendous courage that can only come from being close to Jesus:

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Acts 4:13 NIV

Conviction is a topic that has been heavily on my mind lately, and I’m working on an in-depth newsletter about it for The Chemistry Lab that’s coming soon. 

But before that comes out, I have a sneak preview for you. In this new podcast episode, I introduced the idea of the nosedive and the “Chemistry of Conviction.” In it, we’ll learn how to wrestle with God so that we can become spiritual. We’ll learn how to see sin and talk about sin in a way that’s not negative. We’ll learn that the more we work on changing and talking about our sin, the freer we will become. 

And through it all, we’ll find beauty in the nosedive.

Check out this episode and start allowing God to transform you from the inside out. 

ICYMI: More Chemistry Lab tools

Our team has created some incredible spiritual tools over the last several weeks. In case you missed any of them, you’ll find the latest here:

• How to Have a Deep Quiet Time – A downloadable guide you can use each day to have a deeper quiet time with God. 
• Beyond the Surface: How to Build a Deeper Connection with God – This set of Scriptures will help you recognize superficiality and build a deep connection with God.
• Reimagining Jesus – A Bible study and five-day reading plan with multimedia tools that will help you make Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection personal.

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