Trust Anyway
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
After a long, unwanted season of disappointment, hurt, and sickness, I have to admit my faith was a bit battered. I loved God, but the slew of suffering that stretched over years did damage to my belief. I knew He was good, but if I took a deep, honest look at my heart, I wasn’t sure He was good to me.
Do you ever feel this way, too? When disappointment or heaviness pull us through unwanted seasons, it can be easy to focus on the circumstances and think all the hard comes from the hand of God. We may be tempted to believe the lie that there is no goodness for us in the future and resign ourselves to a life of difficulty.
But this isn’t what God has in store for us. He longs for us to see how He is with us, caring for us, asking us to place our trust in Him.
Trust. Do we trust the Lord, deep in our hearts? Do we come to Him like He is our good Father with the best for us in mind?
What is it that keeps us from coming to Him with our full hearts, hope, and fear?
And what is the response and solution?
Trusting anyway.
When we are faced with the unknown. When everything looks like it doesn’t make sense. When we want to believe but our hearts are scared and unsure.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV)
We are to trust in the LORD with all our heart, the Proverb says. That means without pieces hidden or with reservation. That means even if we fear, we still bring it to Him. Faith builds when we begin to believe amidst what seems impossible that God won’t let us falter.
Look back at where God’s been in your life before. Remember how He has been faithful. Believe that He will continue to be faithful in this new situation. Take your faith for what is ahead, and acknowledge that whatever comes, He will not leave or forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)
It may not happen instantaneously, but as we build a practice of trusting God daily, our faith muscles strengthen and hearts soften into a deepening dependence on God’s ability to get us through by loving us through our situations and seasons.
Has it been a hard season? Trust anyway.
Questions for Reflection:
1. How has it been hard to trust God lately? What are you currently struggling to trust Him with?
2. Look back and notice how God has been with you in past seasons. Remind yourself that He is still with you now.
