Trusting God in Trying Times
We had prayed for a year and felt confident we knew God’s answer. How could we have been so wrong?
Before my husband and I graduated from college as a young married couple, we prayed that God would lead us to exactly where He wanted us to start our lives. After a year, we felt sure He had called us to a small town outside of Charlotte, NC, to work with a doctor there. We excitedly moved our meager belongings with looming school debt trailing behind.
However, when Steve went to the office to make the final arrangements, the doctor opened the trap door in the floor where Steve was standing and said, “I’m sorry son. I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want a partner after all.”
Have you ever prayed about a situation, felt sure you knew the answer, and then faced disappointed, disillusioned, and I dare say, devastated when it didn’t turn out like you had expected? It can be a confusing time.
Solomon wrote, ” Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV). Sometimes it can be a struggle to trust God when path takes a sudden left turn where you are heading right.
So, what does it mean to trust God with all your heart? It means to put full confidence, fastidious faith, and unfaltering belief in God the Father who always has your best interest in mind. It is the assurance that Your Heavenly Father has a purpose and a plan even in your pain and puzzlement, knowing that He is good and what He does is good (Ps 119:68).
Jesus said, “My father is always working, and so am I” (John 5:17 NLT). God is always working behind the scenes in ways that we could never imagine, and He asks us to trust Him. He’s working in our “meanwhile” to make our pain and puzzlement “worthwhile.”
The second part of the verse says, “and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.” If you’re like me, that is a hard one. We want to understand the whys, what fors, and when wills. But no one can understand the mind of God. And here’s the good news, God already has a perfect plan …and He asks us to trust Him.
After the door shut in our faces, we mopped about for a few days, and then began praying for direction again. Three months later, a new situation opened up that was immeasurably, abundantly more that we could have ever asked or imagined (see Ephesians 3:20). Two years later, the first office shut down and the street became a rundown thoroughfare, and the second office we called home thrived. Why didn’t God send us to the second office in the first place? I think He was more interested in developing out character than our comfort…and we learned to trust Him.
Are you going through a confusion situation in your own life today? If so, hear God’s gentle whisper saying, will you trust me?
Heavenly Father, I know that You are good and what You do it good. Today, I am choosing to trust You with the difficult and dark places of my life. I ask that You make my path straight so that I can know the way to go in all circumstances. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
What is one situation in which you are trusting God today. Leave a comment and let’s share. (Leaving a comment is one way that we are acknowledging and saying that we trust Him!)
Digging Deeper
Want to learn more about Trusting God? See my devotion book, co-written with Mary Southerland and Gwen Smith, Trusting God. It also includes reflection and study questions.
Also! Look what’s on sale just in time for the holidays!!!! Lowest prices of the year!!! Click here to learn more.
© 2024 by Sharon Jaynes. All rights reserved.
