Learning to Trust God

I struggle with trusting God sometimes, as I’m sure many of us do. In fact, right now, I’m struggling to trust that He will provide me with community and that He will protect me while I’m abroad in England. I will frequently go to God with a request and I will continue to pray this specific prayer while simultaneously fearing that this prayer will not be answered.

I have to remind myself of the truth constantly:

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

1 John 5:14

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. … If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Matthew 7: 7, 11

In the past, I’ve prayed prayers that were unanswered and today, I’m still praying for people and circumstances that have yet to be answered. So, I developed this fear that God wouldn’t answer my prayers, even if I thought what I was praying for was a good thing.

I acknowledge that my perspective of a ‘good’ thing can be and often is much different than God’s definition of good. Sometimes, me being an imperfect human, I can often develop a mindset that worldly pleasures are what’s good for me (i.e., financial blessings, more friends, more material items, etc). However, God sees the entire picture and I do not. He can see if financial blessings will lead me to make an idol of money, He can see if the friends I so desperately crave would later stab me in the back or lead me to sin, and He can see if more material items would lead me to be more materialistic.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

James 4:1-3

James is talking to a group of believers who were living according to the world. Throughout the book, James emphasizes the importance of sincerely practicing the faith you proclaim and putting your trust in God. In chapter 4, he begins to describe the consequences of their sinful ways and the importance of repenting, and fully submitting yourself to God.

Ask God to reveal to you the true motives behind your prayers. Are you praying for a life that will please God or are you praying for a life that will please you?

I often, if not daily, pray for God to help me seek Him, to reflect the fruits of the spirit and to be made more like Jesus everyday. So, when I don’t receive worldly things and am disappointed, He’s probably thinking “Olivia, those things won’t help you to seek me, to be more like me, those things won’t lead to good, they will only lead you away from me.” He has revealed to me that some of the prayers i’ve been praying aren’t beneficial and He’s doing me a favor by not answering them. Other prayers, that I’ve been praying for years, He has encouraged me to keep praying them and to remain faithful. He’s telling me to trust Him.

A fear I carry with me often is fear of the pain and hardships that can come with living in a sinful, imperfect world with imperfect people. I used to justify this fear because I know God doesn’t promise an easy life and I would actually ask God how He expects us to not worry when we live in a world with some very wicked people. BUT what God eventually revealed to me was that the fear actually stemmed from not trusting Him to protect, provide, and help me in those difficult times.

Instead of focusing on His promises, I have prayed for a way out of the situation, for it to end, and I have begged for it to stop. Meanwhile, I should have been depending on God, trusting His promises, and trying to see how God is working among the situation, and what good is coming from it.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 46:10

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.

2 Thess. 3:3

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1

God loves us and wants to protect us. It’s easy to feel angry or disappointed when prayers aren’t answered but God knows all. God is not withholding blessings from you, He is protecting you and sometimes preparing you for the purpose He has for you. If you’re going through a difficult situation, God may be using this time to strengthen your faith and dependence on Him.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Romans 5:3

I try to shift my focus back on God rather than the fear that is weighing me down. Our experiences are often for our own good and for His glory. So, like He commands us to do, rejoice always and trust Him.

Here are some questions/statements that could help you:

1. How could God be using your pain for your good and His glory?
2. Do you notice your dependence and faith in God strengthening or are you letting the trials of this world weaken your faith?
3. Do you believe He could be using this time to develop your character and prepare you for the plan He has for you?

Ask God to reveal to you how He may be working in your life right now. He may confirm one of these truths to you through scripture, through others, etc. Remain faithful and be open to what God has to say and believe that He will answer you. Then, all you have to do is be ready to listen.

Thank you and have a blessed day,

Olivia Butler (: