Do you ever have trouble trusting God? I get it, we all do. This post is just for us occasional doubters.
I hopped up on the counter at the soda fountain and placed my five-year-old feet on the spinning stool in front of me. Dad sipped on a Coke and talked to the lady behind the counter with the red-and-white-striped apron tied around her waist.
“This is my little girl,” Daddy said with a smile. “She’s a little monkey.”
“Why, Allan, she’s just as cute as she can be.”
For a moment, I thought I was.
I stood in the front yard waiting for the screaming to stop before I went back inside. Dad was drunk again, and Mom was screaming at the top of her lungs. Why couldn’t he see how afraid I was? Why did he drink? Why did Mom yell? Why did they hit each other? After 17 years of these volcanic outbursts, you’d think I’d be used to it. But they always took me by surprise.
The next day came with many tears and promises. “I’ll never do it again,” Dad said. “I am so sorry.”
But there was always a next time. I couldn’t trust him.
When I became a Christian, I understood God’s amazing love for me. But I wondered, could I trust Him? Could I trust God with my hopes and fears, days and years? When you understand the depth of His love, the answer is always yes. Click & Tweet! Perfect love drives away all fear, kicks it out the door, gives it the boot (1 John 4:18). I love how another translation says 1 John 4:18:
There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection] (ampc).
I could relate to the rejected Jesus and easily accept the indescribable gift He gave. I marveled at God’s love. I truly did. But when it came time to trust my heavenly Father with my hopes and dreams? That was a different story. For the longest time, when conflicts arose, I became that teenage girl looking in the crowd for a daddy who wasn’t there. Could I trust this heavenly Father? I wasn’t so sure.
But one day God spoke to my heart in a poignant way. Take your father’s face off Mine, He seemed to say. I am not like your earthly father. I am your heavenly Father.
God is always good.
God always tells the truth.
God wants what’s best for you.
You can trust Him.
It’s easy to trust God when life is good. But when a child rebels, the bank account dwindles, or the biopsy comes back saying the tumor is malignant, we wonder. Is God really good? We know in our heads that He is, but the heart struggles to believe. The Enemy peddles the lie that God is not good—that He’s holding out on us. That’s what He told Eve. God is holding out on you. You can’t trust Him. You will not die.
Then disappointment hits and the devil says, “Told you so.”
Life is filled with disappointments. And it’s during those times of disappointment that the Enemy sows seeds of distrust with thoughts of mistrust. Disappointment and discouragement become the breeding ground for Satan’s lies to take root.
During all the years I struggled with infertility, the Enemy continually taunted me with lies. God doesn’t love you, he whispered. If He loved you He would give you a child. You can’t trust Him with your heart. You can’t trust Him with your deepest longings.
When we lost our second child due to a miscarriage, the Enemy pestered me with more lies. How could God let this happen? How could He break your heart like this? How could a loving God allow such pain?
Have you ever felt that way? I think most of us have heard those lies at one time or another. But the truth is, if God says no in one area of our lives, it’s because He has a greater yes in another.
Can you imagine how the disciples must have felt as the stone rolled in front of Jesus’s tomb? How could this happen? Where is God? We thought He was going to restore Israel? But three days later, when Jesus rose from the grave and appeared to them in all His glory, they knew the answer. God had a greater plan. And God has a plan for you.
Heavenly Father, I am so glad I can trust You with my hopes, my dreams, my fears, and my years. I know that You have a good plan for me. Even when I am disappointed and heartbroken, help me to trust that Your ways are perfect. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
What are you trusting God for today?
Do you feel that you need to trust God more? Are there situations in your life that are causing you to doubt? In the GiG book, Trusting God, Mary, Gwen and I take you step by step through a 12-week study that will help you have peace, as you learn to trust the One who loves you most. And for a list of verses to help you trust God in difficult times, click here.
Comments 6
Through tears I must laugh at how God’s timing is so awesome. I was that same little girl with a drunk father that became violent when he drank. Physical abuse towards mom and police escorts out of the house in the wee hours were commonplace. They divorced almost 30 years ago and now I’m 60 and still dealing with it on a smaller level. While I speak to him via phone, he’s in another state, it was the several calls this past weekend from him and his neighbor. His sweet neighbor called and asked if I was aware of his issues. How do you not be a smarty pants with that answer?! He stays passed out most days and wants to know if I have any ideas to help. I want to honor him as my earthly father but struggle with it. There is nothing I can do, except pray and pray boldly that our Father will step in and make something good out of the mess. Your blog post today hit me square between the eyes and the tissues are out. While I’m a Christian my earthly father is not. Please help me pray through this today especially.
I/we prayed, I/we trusted, I/we believed thought we were living trying too serve and please God yet death came anyway. Shattered dreams and plans. I want too trust and I do but it’s hard at times. Here I am alone almost 5 years later at times still struggling to trust. As you said in my head I know it but in my heart I struggle. God is good I know He is. I just don’t see how this is the best for me. I know God loves me I just don’t understand. I have to trust God I have nobody else. Please pray for me
Thanks for the word of encouragement.Yesterday I was left disappointed, discouraged and even did doubt God’s love for me.I had made a vow to God about a business land transaction,this was two years ago and I was eager to celebrate the signing of the contract yesterday only for a change in wording on the contract which has similar meanings meant it had to be pushed to another week.
It is out of this commission,after honouring my vow,that I want to use to get my wife,son and daughter back after getting a house for us.Honestly,God does understand my pain of seeing my kids out of school and what my wife is going through after the separation three years ago.I have taken full responsibility for the failures in marriage.Does God still love me???
Author
Absolutely!
I need to believe. Failed marriage. Children taken under false pretenses. Remarried, but had secondary infertility. My now adult children walked away from God. Even though I’m 53 I still have severe pain from infertility.
I am not picking the scabs any longer