Do you trust God? Do you trust Him for your salvation? Do you trust that He will bring you to heaven?

I sure hope so, because, for the child of God, those who have repented, believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and have put their faith (trust) in Him, those are sure things.

Day to day, though, do you trust Him during good times and bad? Do you trust Him in your trials?

Trials are God’s strength-training courses. We get the opportunity to exercise our trust. Trials make us stronger. (But, of course, pray about what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be passive.)

Here’s how to trust during trials

Remember: Look Back

1. You are God’s child, declared righteous, raised up with Christ, and seated with God in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6)
2. He loves you with an everlasting love. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can take you out of His love. He loves you so much that He gave His Son to die for you that you might live with Him in heaven forever. (Romans 8:38-39)
3. Your loving Father is sovereign over everything and everybody all the time. There are no exceptions. Nothing happens without God’s action or permission. Whatever touches you—good, bad, evil—is controlled by Him. (See, just for example, Ephesians 1:11 and Psalm 115:3)

Consider: His presence in the present

4. While He sometimes allows bad things to happen to His children, He promises to bring good out of it. He promises to make you into the image of His Son. (Romans 8:28-29)

Look ahead: His future promises will not fail

5. Trials benefit you. Paul says suffering produces endurance, then character, then hope (Romans 5:3-4). James says trials produce steadfastness, so that we may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:3-4). Peter says trials test the genuineness of our faith, resulting in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7).
6. One day Christ will present you to the Father holy and blameless! (Ephesians 1:4, Colossians 1:22)

When you are in the midst of a trial

When you are in the midst of a trial, you, of course, need to ask the Lord what He wants you to do. Perhaps there is a solution for your problem. Perhaps you need to ask for help. But, perhaps, you need to endure.

In any case, determine to remember the five points. If you practice during the “easy” trials, it will be easier to fall into His arms when life is really tough.

We are not alone in bad times—or good times.

Practice. Exercise your “trust” muscles.

Pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19

This world is in chaos, and getting more evil as the very last days approach.

But we, as God’s children, can see God’s lamp shining in a dark place, and must pay attention.

The day will dawn, and the morning star will arise in our hearts.

That is the prophetic word made sure.

We can’t ignore the awful things around us. But we can, we must, pay attention to God’s shining lamp.

We must, as Christ taught us, “to straighten up and lift up [our] heads, because [our] redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28

There is hope. Don’t despair.

Can. Must. Will.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are the Creator.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

All things came into being through [Christ]. And apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. (John 1:3)

For by [Christ] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. (Colossians 1:16)

What God says about Himself

When the LORD answered Job, His rant focused on Himself as the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”

“Have you ever commanded the morning?”

And on and on for more than 100 verses! (See Job 38-41)

Fundamental to Everything

Belief in God as the Creator, our Creator, fundamentally affects everything.

When we see Him as Creator, we come to know something about His infinite power, knowledge, wisdom, and immorality.

When we see Him as Creator, we see His right over us, and how we should live our lives. We see our failure, our need for salvation, and His provision.

When we see Him as Creator, it affects our total worldview.

When we see Him as Creator, we see ourselves as created beings, and align ourselves under Him.

When we see Him as Creator, we know we owe Him everything.

When we see Him as Creator, and we are His children, Christ-followers, we know He is our help and our hope.

Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124:8)

Declare the Glory of God

Many of the statements of praise and worship through both the Old and New Testaments refer to God the Creator.

Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. (Isaiah 40:26)

Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created. (Revelation 4:11)

Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it… (Revelation 10:5-6)

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. (Psalm 19:1)

Let the redeemed of the LORD say so. (Psalm 107:2)

Praise the Creator—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Praise the Creator, who made everything from nothing, revealing His presence and His glory. You, Almighty God, demonstrated Your absolute power, infinite knowledge and wisdom. As Your created being, I praise You with relief and joy that You are in charge of it all. I am Yours.

Pay now or later?

Pay now and receive blessings later.

OR

Pleasure now and pay later.

Those are crucial differences between obeying the Lord, and choosing sin.

We often talk about the blessings of obedience. There are many blessings, thrilling results of following our Lord. That will be a topic for another time.

Cost of Obedience

We shouldn’t discount that there are costs to obedience. In order to obey Him, we have to deny ourselves, refusing to do what we ourselves want to do, and we have to take up our cross, engaging in something we would not have chosen.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)

Your will be done. (Matthew 6:10)

Whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:35)

The cost of following Christ happens first, with blessings coming later.

Cost of Disobedience

With sin, however, it is reversed. When we sin, there is immediate pleasure. We’ve gotten our own way. We’ve gotten whatever it is that looked great. But, following that, are the consequences of our sins, sometimes significant, and sometimes lasting for a lifetime.

But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. (Matthew 6:2, 23:5)

Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled. (Matthew 23:12)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation. (Matthew 23:14)

To get to the blessings, you have to pay the cost

That is true in the secular world, too. My beloved grandmother used to say: “You have to suffer to be beautiful.” That was probably a retort to my complaints about sleeping in hair rollers (Yes, I’m that old!). But you can see it everywhere: Athletes who push their bodies over years in order to win the gold; People studying day after day to master a subject; Dieters who regulate their intake to get to the proper weight.

Be Alert

Remember, the cost of obedience is always less, always, than the cost of disobedience. (See Chapters 13 and 24 in When Storms Come: Will You Be Ready?)

Do you ever think someone else’s life is better than yours? That they have been given a better ministry? Better talents? Better goodies? Do they have green grass? Are you sure?

How about better problems? Do you think their problems are easier than yours?

As humans, we are prone to compare ourselves to others, leading, often, to envy or covetness.

We are more apt to compare what we see as blessings, though, than compare our problems to the problems of others.

Do you really want his or her physical problems rather than your own? Do you know the family, financial, or other problems they face? Do you want those problems?

God has given us our own grass for a reason

We have been given our blessings, including our problems, for a reason. God is at work in us—right now—to want to do His will, and to perform His will. He will continue His work in us until we are presented by Christ to the Father, holy and blameless.

It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)

I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

[Christ will] present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— (Colossians 1:22)

Our Green Grass

You and I have been given work to do in this life. In our own fields. However much green grass we have.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

Whether or not my grass seems green to me, it is my grass. It is the field my Father has given me. I have work to do, given to me by the Father. Lord, help me get with it.

Despair?

David was in despair, but didn’t know why.

Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? (Psalm 42:5)

There was no answer to “Why?”

But we are given a remedy to despair.

Here is how to remedy despair:

Shift Focus by Remembering

1) Shift your focus from your misery and despair to focus on God. (See A Good Talking-To)

2) Remember what God has done:

If you are His child, He called you, justified you, is sanctifying you, and promises you eternal glory.

Review the ways He has been with you in the past.

3) Remember who God is:

The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; and His song will be with me in the night. (Psalm 42:8)

Just as the Lord has been with you in the past, He is with you now, and will be with you in the future.

Remember He is our loving sovereign. He is in control and has a loving purpose for everything that affects you.

Hope Flows After

4) Hope in God.

Your current situation is temporary (See Not Forever, Just Until). God is eternal.

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence. (Psalm 42:5)

5) Praise Him.

Give it a try!

A friend of mine had mechanical problems during a long distance road trip. They broke down within five miles of a mechanic who had worked on another issue several years before.

They (and I) had prayed for a safe and uneventful trip, which was not answered with a “Yes.”

But if they had known they would have mechanical problems, they would have prayed for those problems to happen close to that particular mechanic.

Unprayed Prayers

It sounds to me like an answer to the prayer they would have prayed if they had known.

How often is that the case? We do not know the future, but God does. We do not know what we will need, but God does.

In God’s miraculous providence, He uses a gazillion actions and events to bring circumstances together to accomplish His purposes. And, remember, He loves us and is fitting us for eternity.

In your life, where do you see the hand of God? Where do you think He prevented something, or caused something?

He is always at work, but we often don’t pay attention.

What are your answers to unprayed prayer?

Thank God for His answers to unprayed prayers

Thank God for His presence in your life, His constant lovingkindness, His mercies that are fresh everyday.

Thanks to our loving, sovereign God.