Reflection: Trust is easy when things and circumstances are easy, but it gets exponentially harder the tougher and more uncomfortable things become.
Trusting in and through difficult or uncomfortable circumstances takes strength and courage, but for believers it’s not an optional extra – it’s an imperative – a commandment no less.
The reality is that trust is not about the worst not happening, it’s about trusting that God will be with us still, even if the worst does come to pass. It is about trusting that no matter what, God is sovereign, that we will believe in his inherent goodness, regardless if good or bad happens to us.
Author Ann Voskamp writes:
Perhaps the opposite of faith is not doubt. Perhaps the opposite of faith is fear. To lack faith perhaps isn’t as much an intellectual disbelief in the existence of God as fear and distrust that there is a good God.
That’s a really tricky thing to truly grasp – that God is good even if something bad happens to me, even if the thing I’ve prayed won’t happen does happen; even if the thing I’ve prayed for doesn’t come to pass.
Question: Do you believe that God is good even when bad things happen to you or to those you love? Do you believe that God is faithful when the thing you’ve been praying for (often for years) doesn’t come to pass?
Prayer: I do believe, Lord; but help me overcome my unbelief! Be merciful to me and hear my prayer. And while I wait for you or your answer, be with me I pray. Amen.