Do you trust God, no matter what happens?
Have you ever felt like your life goes from one challenge to another, or one crisis to another? Or maybe your life is going pretty smoothly right now but things at work, at church, or in your community are not always so smooth. Is it possible to trust God, no matter what happens in all these situations?
And just look at the national scene. There’s always some problem or problems coming up, either as a result of human actions or sometimes the weather. And just as soon as one political battle comes to an end another one starts. On the world stage, it seems like there’s one war after another, sometimes several wars going on at once.
How do you keep your peace in all these situations? It’s not always easy.
Trusting God no matter what happens
But you know, the thing that’s been the most helpful for me, is something really pretty basic. It’s having the kind of relationship with God that you know you can trust Him. It’s trusting God no matter what happens.
One of the all-time favorite Bible verses of people I’ve talked to over many years applies to almost any situation you’ll ever be in, whether it’s something you’re dealing with personally all by yourself, or all the way up to a world conflict that’s on the other side of the globe.
Before you read this verse—and you know it well—take just a moment to think of something you’re concerned about going on right now in your life, your church, your job, your community, your country, your world. And as you read these two verses, think about how they apply to the particular situation you’re thinking about.
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
Roadmap: trusting God
This is almost like a scientific formula for how to deal with whatever challenges may come your way. Or if you don’t like that analogy of a formula, you could call it a roadmap. It tells us how to get from one place to another, from a place of uncertainty or fear, to a place of realizing God will direct you and make it clear what you need to do.
The roadmap is really to trust God and let Him take care of things.
I’m sure you’ve had lots of experiences where you had to quit relying on yourself or someone else and had to trust completely in God for an answer or a solution.
Sometimes I have tried everything I can think of to solve a problem but get absolutely nowhere. Every time I have finally admitted I didn’t know what to do and quit trying to solve the problem myself, and turned completely to God, He has provided and answer or a solution.
Bible characters trusting God
And when you look at the Bible, there are so many examples of people trusting God no matter what happens, because they knew they couldn’t do whatever needed to be done by themselves.
I find it really encouraging to read some of these Bible stories of people trusting in God during incredibly challenging times. In light of everything society says we should trust in these days, it’s important to remember how these brave men and women trusted God instead of other people, or man-made procedures and devices.
This certainly applies to us today.
Who and what do you put your trust in? How smart you are, how much money you have, your job, the education system, politicians, government policies and programs? What do you put your trust in? The list could go on and on.
But all these things can only do so much good. Sometimes they do harm. And more often, people disagree on what the right thing to do is and whether it’s beneficial or not.
Not trusting God
When you look back over thousands of years it doesn’t seem human nature has changed much from the way people thought and acted in the Bible.
This verse from Psalms shows how, all too often, we trust in something besides God.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. Psalm 20:7 NIV
Now, you may be thinking: Hey James, I don’t trust in chariots and horses. I don’t have a horse and even if I did, I probably wouldn’t have a chariot.
But let’s put this verse in the context of a battle scene between the Israelites and a country that was attacking them.
In the Old Testament, sometimes the children of Israel had lots of troops to send off into battle, but other times they were hopelessly outnumbered.
Trusting God or how many soldiers you have
If you had plenty of troops, you would very naturally trust in their ability to fight against the enemy army.
But God wanted the children of Israel always to trust Him, first and foremost.
The most obvious example of this is when Gideon was called by God to defeat the Midianites. You can read the specifics of this part of Gideon’s story starting in Judges, Chapter 7.
Gideon had 32,000 troops.
The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ Judges 7:2 NIV
God told him to send home anyone who was afraid and then he was left with about 10,000 men. This was still too many. Of those 10,000, God selected 300 for the task of defeating the Midianite army. Which they did.
Gideon and all the people learned they could trust in God, instead of how many troops they had in their army. It was obvious to everyone they could never have been victorious with just 300 soldiers unless God had helped them.
No matter what happens, you can trust God
This idea of trusting God can apply to you literally if you are fighting in a war somewhere in the world. Or it can be relevant if you are fighting some of life’s daily battles for justice in the workplace, in the education system, the government, or society itself, not to mention your own personal life.
Who and what do you really trust?
Two of my favorite Bible stories as a child were Daniel in the Lion’s den and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. You can read those stories in Daniel, Chapter 3 and Chapter 6.
In both these stories, complete trust in God was the key the solution. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel all put their trust in God, even when that put them in life-threatening situations as a result of this trust.
Trusting God completely
I love the complete trust they all had, which is summed up in what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said to King Darius.
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:17, 18 NIV
What courage and trust they had in God. It’s really beautiful to see.
Have you ever been thrown into the fiery furnace or a den of lions because you took a public stand for your faith like these men did? Then you were impelled to lean on and trust God more than ever before, just as they did.
Every time you put your trust in God, instead of yourself, someone or something else, you strengthen your faith, and your trust in God in the next situation grows stronger as well.
The book of Psalms has a lot to say about trusting God.
Trusting God when you’re afraid
We can all relate to what David says:
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? Psalm 56:3, 4 NIV
It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. Psalm 118:8 KJV
So, we’re supposed to put our trust in God instead of people. That makes sense. There are other things we put our trust in, sometimes blatantly, but sometimes without ever realizing it. One of those is trusting in how much money you have.
Trusting money or God
There are several places in the Bible that warn against trusting in material wealth.
Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf. Proverbs 11:28 NIV
There’s nothing wrong with having material wealth. It’s about where you put your trust.
Jesus makes this very point. A very wealthy young man came to him and asked,
“Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Mark 10:17 NKJV
Jesus told him he needed to obey the commandments and the young man affirmed he had always been obedient.
Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Mark 10:21, 22 NKJV
Jesus teaches trust in God
Jesus turns this into a teaching moment for his disciples.
Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! Mark 10:23, 24 NKJV
I’ll repeat, there’s nothing wrong with having a lot of money. It’s whether you trust in your money for security, happiness, the ability to have what you need.
Now maybe you don’t consider yourself a rich person and think this saying of Jesus doesn’t apply to you. But I had to learn, when there were times I didn’t have much money, that if I believed I couldn’t do or have the things I needed because I didn’t have enough money, I was actually trusting that money was the only thing that could give me those things.
Trusting God for what we need
Whenever my wife and I have put all our trust in God for whatever we needed, we have been provided for in incredibly unexpected ways, like the time when our dining room chairs were falling apart and someone who didn’t even know our need, gave us a dozen, beautiful wooden chairs that were perfect for our home. Those chairs would have cost several thousand dollars, money which I did not have to spend on chairs at the time.
This was an important lesson for me in trusting God for everything and I learned that money, in and of itself, is not necessarily the solution.
So what if you do have a lot of money and you can buy whatever you need because of how much money you have? First of all, it’s something to be grateful for. Second, it’s an opportunity to think of the best way to spend or invest your money, or how you can use it to help others. But money is never, can never be the real source of your happiness or your needs being met. God is.
Trusting God if you are wealthy
So what if you do have a lot of money? Once again, Psalms gives us some wisdom.
… though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. Psalm 62:10 NIV
In other words, keep your focus and your trust on God.
Jesus sums this up in the Sermon on the Mount.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33 NKJV
Depending on God, instead of how much money you have, to provide what you need is just one of the many areas of our lives where we need to trust God.
Trusting God for the little things
Sometimes it’s a matter of trusting God on the little details of everyday life. A friend of mine said to me one time: Oh I don’t bother God with all the little stuff. He’s too busy for that.
Honestly, that’s a pretty limited sense of God’s ability to help and provide for you.
Jesus said, and in the process set an example for us,
Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing,
I can do nothing on my own. John 5:19, 30 NLT
Think about that for a minute. Down to the tiniest detail of everything he did, Jesus freely admitted that he couldn’t do anything without God’s help. He trusted God in even the smallest situation.
Of course, he trusted God in the big things as well.
Jesus trusted God
The ultimate trust Jesus placed in God was front and center when he surrendered his own will to obey God’s will in facing the crucifixion. He trusted God each step of that journey. God had revealed to him he would be crucified and that he would rise from the dead, but Jesus had to put all his trust in God. He knew in his heart it was true, but still, he had to trust.
This trust shines through brightly even with the last words from his mouth on the cross,
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. Luke 23:46 NIV
This is actually a quote from Psalm 31:5. But the point is, Jesus completely trusted his heavenly Father with his life.
You and I can do this as well. We can trust God to protect us, whatever the situation is, big or small.
Trusting God in life-threatening situations
The disciples had to learn to trust God in this way, sometimes in life-threatening situations.
In the early days of the Church, the Apostles were preaching and healing multitudes of people in Jerusalem. The high priest and members of the Sanhedrin had them arrested and put in prison.
You can read this whole story in Acts, Chapter 5, starting verse 12.
The night they were in prison, an angel opened the prison doors and told the Apostles to go preach in the Temple court, which they did. The Temple guard found them there and brought then back to the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest:
“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! Acts 5:28, 29 NIV
The Sanhedrin ended up flogging the Apostles, then let them go. Did they stop telling people about Jesus? Absolutely not. They put all their trust in God, even though they had suffered because of it. What was the result?
Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. Acts 5:42 NIV
The apostles knew they could be in danger humanly. But they trusted God, not only to help them in preaching and healing, but with their very lives, regardless of the opposition from the religious leaders of the day.
They were trusting God, not what a religious institution demanded of them. They trusted God to provide for them and protect them. They didn’t try to get approval from the religious governing body.
How does this apply to you and me today?
How do you trust God?
When God puts a call on your life to preach or teach or minister to the needs of others in the name of Christ, sometimes a religious organization will try to stop you, or slow you down with red tape.
But if God has truly called you, you don’t need permission from human beings, or a human institution, or the government to do fulfill that calling. You can trust God for everything you need to go forward, just as the Apostles did.
Regardless of what was going on in Roman politics, regardless of what policies and theological perspectives the Pharisees and Sadducees came up with, Jesus and the Apostles kept trusting in God for everything. They didn’t let any situation, person, or institution keep them from doing what God called them to do.
You may not be able to change what’s going on in the world, but you can always be a ray of light, love, and hope to those around you.
Again I’ll ask: Who or what are you trusting?
Trusting God no matter what happens with politics
On the day this episode is released, we’re having a presidential election in the United States. Some people have put their trust in one candidate to lead the country, some in the other. The same is true for state and federal candidates.
Some people trust the election process. Some do not.
Some people are afraid of what will happen if one candidate wins the presidential election. Others are afraid of what will happen if the other candidate wins the presidency.
Now, just to be transparent, I have some concerns as well. But the only way I have found any peace is to put my trust in God, regardless of who wins the election.
Can you see yourself trusting God no matter what happens with the election? Or if you’re in another country, think of an issue you’re dealing with. Can you trust God no matter what happens?
Trusting people and governments more than God
In talking to many people of faith over the last few weeks and months, it’s almost ironic that so many of them have more faith in their politicians and certain government policies than they do in God. And they don’t even realize it.
Take a moment for some humble and honest self-reflection. Are you only willing to trust that everything will be okay if one person is elected President but not the other? Are you only willing to trust everything will be okay if certain government policies that you agree with are put in place and enforced?
Well, I have to say this, you may be putting more trust in someone or something besides God.
Never expect a person, a policy, or a government to do what only God can do.
Regardless of the political outcome here in the United States, or whatever may be going on in the country where you live in, you can trust God to provide for you, protect you, guide you, and heal you. Regardless of the outcome of any event, large or small, local, regional, federal, and even international, you can trust God in every situation for all your needs.
Why trust God?
And why should we trust God? The very simple answer is that He loves you. You can trust God because He has your best interests at heart. He is able to meet all your needs and solve all your problems. That’s the bottom line. We trust God because He loves us and wants the very best for us.
I close with these words of David in
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me. Psalm 13:5,6 NIV
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life. Contact him here.
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Bible References
Proverbs 3:5, 6 NIV
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Psalm 20:7 NIV
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
Judges 7:2 NIV
2 The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’
Daniel 3:17, 18 NIV
17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.
18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Psalm 56:3, 4 NIV
3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?
Psalm 118:8 KJV
8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
Proverbs 11:28 NIV
28 Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.
Mark 10:17 NKJV
17 “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
Mark 10:21, 22 NKJV
21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Mark 10:23, 24 NKJV
23 Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!
Psalm 62:10 NIV
10 … though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.
Matthew 6:33 NKJV
33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
John 5:19, 30 NLT
19 Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing,
30 I can do nothing on my own.
Luke 23:46 NIV
46 “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” [Psalm 31:5] When he had said this, he breathed his last.
Acts 5:28, 29 NIV
28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!
Acts 5:42 NIV
42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
Psalm 13:5,6 NIV
5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.
