Trusting God during tough times can be one of the most difficult challenges we face. How do we continue to trust Him when He doesn’t seem to be answering our prayers, when a child isn’t getting better, when finances still seem impossible, or when the doctor hands us a bad report? Where do we find hope? What will we believe about God during those tough times? And if we’re not in the middle of a challenging season, what can we do to be ready for them when they come?
Today’s Readings:
Ezekiel 23 & 24
Psalm 127.1-5
Proverbs 28.24
Hebrews 11.1-16
How to Trust God During Tough Times
Ezekiel 23 & 24:
What If …?
What if God called you to make the sacrifice that Ezekiel had to make—losing his wife and not even being allowed to grieve (Ezek. 24.15-18)? Could you trust God to give you the strength to do it? Or would you fall into self-pity or a “why me” attitude?
While God was pointing to bigger spiritual truths through the things Ezekiel and other prophets were called to live out, Ezekiel was still a man who I’m sure experienced his own feelings of grief and loss.
How would you respond if that were you? Or what if the child you raised to love and trust God became a prodigal, throwing aside everything you believe? Would you continue to trust God?
What if the doctor were to hand you a bad report? Or your child didn’t get better? Would you still believe that God is good?
What if you or your spouse lost a job or your savings or your retirement plan? Would you still be able to trust Him to meet your needs?
I know for some of you those questions aren’t hypothetical, they are a reality. The truth is suffering is a part of life in this fallen world. Someone has said that we are either in the midst of a trial, coming out of one, or getting ready to go into one.
They may vary in degree and some may be easier to handle than others, but we all suffer.
When God asks you to trust Him in the difficult things: when He doesn’t seem to be answering your prayers, when your child isn’t getting better, when the finances still seem impossible, when the doctor hands you a bad report … where will you go? Where will you find hope? What will you believe about God?
Could you say with the psalmist, “I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me” (Ps. 119.75)?
How to Grow in Trust
It’s hard to trust someone you don’t know.
When your toddler jumps into your arms from the edge of the swimming pool for the first time, he doesn’t trust his ability to swim, he trusts you because he knows you. When your doctor says she needs to do surgery, you’ll either trust her diagnosis, or you’ll get another opinion.
A toddler learns to trust his parents because of his experiences with them. You may come to trust your doctor because of her care and knowledge in other situations or because someone you know recommended her or you trust in the study that allowed her to become a doctor. But somehow we must have knowledge of a person if we’re to trust them.
When it comes to trusting God, we must first trust Him by faith. But even that initial faith comes alive because of truths we believe about Him, usually by hearing His Word preached or shared with us in some way. We make the choice to believe His Word and to respond to His wooing. Then we grow in faith and the ability to trust Him by coming to know Him better through His Word.
So, what can we learn about God that will steady us in tough times?
What Will Steady Us in Tough Times?
One way is by getting to know His character. We do that by studying His attributes.
God is infinite and self-existing (Col. 1.17). He is immutable or unchanging (Mal. 3.6). He is self-sufficient (Jn. 5.26), wise (Rom. 11.33), and faithful (2 Tim. 2.13). God is omnipotent or all-powerful (Ps. 33.6). He is omniscient or all-knowing (Is. 46.9-10). He is omnipresent or present everywhere (Ps. 139.7-10). God is good (Ps. 34.8), merciful (Rom. 9.15-16), and just in all that He does (Deut. 32.4). He is gracious (Ps. 145.8) and holy (Rev. 4.8). He is love (1 Jn. 4.8). And these are just some of His characteristics.
Let’s look at just one of these attributes.
God’s Love
It’s not that God does loving things, He is love. Love seeks the good of the person loved. His love is perfect and unselfish. He loves us so much that He was willing to die in our place (Jn. 3.16). Even in hardship, God is working for our good (Rom. 8.28; Gen. 50.20).
Joseph told the brothers who had sinned against him horribly:
But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive (Gen. 50.20).
Charles Ryrie says, “Love consists of affection and also of correction. Babies are cuddled and corrected, and both are true expressions of parental love.”
So, even when God disciplines His children, it’s because of His love:
For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives (Heb. 12.6).
How Might Getting to Know Him Help?
Though we can never fully know God, He has revealed much about Himself through His creation, through His acts, through His Word, and through His Son Jesus Christ. Coming to know Him will allow us to trust Him in every circumstance.
When we’ve been sinned against, understanding His mercy and grace toward us can help us trust Him by forgiving our offender. When we are in the midst of a trial, understanding His goodness can help us walk through hardship knowing that He will use it for good (Rom. 8.28-29). And when we feel alone, it’s important to know that He will never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13.5), that He is present everywhere (Ps. 139.7-10), and that nothing can separate us from His love (Rom. 8.37-39).
Resources for Knowing God
There are many resources that can help us come to know Him, to know His attributes, and to better understand how God works in and through suffering. A friend told me her life and perspective changed when she read Trusting God by Jerry Bridges as a young widow.
I’ve seen many people helped by reading It’s Not Fair! by Wayne Mack. And A.W. Pink’s classic The Attributes of God is a little gem.
You can also use Bible Gateway or another concordance to look up the attributes of God and study them out for yourself. The important thing is to come to know God better. Only then can we grow in our ability to trust Him in the difficult, as well as the joyful, seasons of life.
Today’s Other Readings:
Psalm 127.1-5:
The Rock: Doing, Not Just Hearing
Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who built it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain (v. 1).
On what foundation is your house, your life, your marriage, your family being built?
Matthew 7.24-27 says:
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Notice it’s not the one who hears or knows the Word who builds his life on the rock; it’s the one who hears and “does it.”
James 1.22-25 says:
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. (NLT)
There are many who have gone to church and even attended Bible studies, for years. They may have a lot of head knowledge of God, but if they are not living it daily, they can be fooled into thinking they’re OK with God while they justify sinful habits. And a house that is not built on a solid foundation of hearing and doing is headed for trouble when the storms of life come.
Proverbs 28.24:
No Big Deal!
Whoever robs his father or his mother, and says, ‘It is no transgression,’ the same is companion to a destroyer.
It’s bad enough that someone would steal, but to steal from his or her own parents and then think, “It’s no big deal!” is the height of deception.
Hebrews 11.1-16:
Faith—a Solidly Grounded Certainty
I like Jay Adams translation of verse 1:
Now faith is a solidly grounded certainty about what we hope for, a conviction about the reality of things we don’t see.
And verse 6 says that without that “solidly grounded certainty,” it is impossible to please God!
Is your faith and trust in God a “solidly grounded certainty”?
Your Thoughts:
How has God spoken to you today? Perhaps you saw a passage in a new light or an area where you need to grow and change. Did you find a promise to hold on to? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Coming Up:
In the next few days, we’ll look at the key to the Christian life, discuss more about God’s work when life gets hard, and ask the questions: “Should we submit to church authority?” and “Is believing ‘in’ God enough?”
I hope you’ll join us.
Getting ready for 2025:
The holidays are just around the corner and the new year will be on us before we know it. What will you do to make Bible reading an ongoing habit in the coming year? I’d like to encourage you to set a goal to read through the Bible again or for the first time. If you join me, I’ll take you through a plan that covers both the Old and New Testaments in about 15 minutes a day. You can read each day’s post or watch as I read through the passages on YouTube. Sign up here for my daily email. It has links to the written post and the YouTube video. And it can serve as a gentle reminder to stay on track and I believe you’ll benefit from the additional information I share and grow as you learn to apply God’s Word to your own life.
You can check out our YouTube channel here.
If this post spoke to you, I would love it if you would share it on your favorite social media platform.
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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