Can You Trust God?

Thoughts on Psalm 50:15

Life does not always give us warning.

The letter arrives. The doctor calls. The company closes. The child walks away. The relationship breaks. The plans we made so carefully fall apart in a single afternoon.

Sometimes trouble comes suddenly. It enters the room without knocking and changes everything.

At other times, trouble comes slowly. It does not strike like lightning. It wears us down like rain against an old roof. The pain continues. The questions remain. The prayer seems unanswered.

Most of us know both kinds of trouble.

We know the great sorrows: illness, grief, betrayal, failure, unemployment, injustice, and loss.

We also know the smaller frustrations of ordinary life. The car will not start. The computer fails. The flight is cancelled. The washing machine stops working when the house is full of guests.

These troubles are not equal in size, but they often ask the same question:

Can I trust God?

That question can mean two things.

First, is God trustworthy? Is He dependable when life becomes difficult?

Second, am I able to trust Him? Can I place my life in His hands when I do not understand what He is doing?

That second question is often the harder one.

It is easier to say that God is faithful when the path is clear. It is harder when the future is hidden, the pain is real, and heaven seems silent.

Trust Is Not Pretending

Trusting God does not mean pretending that pain does not hurt.

The Bible never asks us to call suffering pleasant. Paul prayed three times for God to remove his “thorn.” Joseph wanted to be released from prison. Jesus prayed in Gethsemane that the cup of suffering might be taken from Him.

Faith does not deny pain.

Faith brings pain into the presence of God.

There is a false kind of spirituality that smiles too quickly. It rushes to offer explanations before it has taken time to weep. It speaks as though faithful people never struggle, never fear, and never ask questions.

But the Bible is far more honest than that.

The Psalms are filled with cries of confusion. The prophets asked where God was. Job spoke from the ashes. Jesus wept beside the tomb of His friend.

Trust does not mean that we understand.

It means that we continue to hold onto God when we do not.

Trusting May Be Harder Than Obeying

We often think obedience is the most difficult part of the Christian life. Sometimes it is. God may ask us to forgive, to speak truth, to turn from sin, or to love someone who has wounded us.

But trusting God can be even more difficult.

When God commands us, at least we know what He wants. His moral will is given to us in Scripture.

But when adversity comes, we often do not know what God is doing.

We do not know how long the trouble will last. We do not know what will be taken from us. We do not know whether the situation will improve. We do not know what tomorrow will reveal.

Obedience often walks on a marked road.

Trust sometimes walks in the dark.

And yet trusting God is not optional. When we refuse to obey Him, we question His authority. When we refuse to trust Him, we question His character.

We may never say it aloud, but beneath our anxiety we may be asking:

“Is God really in control?”

“Does He know what He is doing?”

“Does He still love me?”

Those questions bring us to three truths we must hold tightly.

Three Truths for Troubled Days

First, God is sovereign.

Nothing enters our lives outside His rule. This does not mean that everything that happens is good. Evil is still evil. Grief is still grief. Death is still an enemy.

But God is never surprised. He is never powerless. He is never forced to rewrite His plans because something happened that He did not expect.

Second, God is wise.

He not only has power. He knows how to use it perfectly.

We see only a small part of the story. God sees the beginning, the middle, and the end. His wisdom reaches beyond our understanding.

Paul wrote:

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” —Romans 11:33

God’s ways are often beyond tracing. But they are never without wisdom.

Third, God is loving.

His sovereignty is not cold. His wisdom is not distant. The One who rules over us is also the Father who loves us.

We know this because of the cross.

At the cross, God did not remain far from human suffering. He entered it. Jesus experienced rejection, injustice, physical agony, loneliness, and death.

The cross does not answer every question we have about suffering.

But it tells us something we must never forget:

The God who allows suffering is the God who suffered for us.

Learning to Trust

Trust does not grow merely by collecting facts about God. It grows as we come to know Him.

Psalm 9:10 says:

“Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

To know God’s name means more than knowing information about Him. It means meeting Him in the real places of our lives.

We meet Him in prayer when we have no words.

We meet Him in Scripture when our thoughts are confused.

We meet Him through His people when we cannot carry the burden alone.

And sometimes, after we have walked through the valley, we look back and realize that He was present even when we could not see Him.

Can you trust God?

You may not understand what He is doing.

You may not like the road He has allowed you to walk.

You may still be waiting for relief.

But God remains sovereign. God remains wise. God remains good.

Trust does not say, “I understand.”

Trust says, “I know the One who holds me.”

And sometimes, in the day of trouble, that is enough.