Houses are too expensive, families are breaking down, just any job will do when you need one, and relationships seem more complicated than ever with our ever-increasing selfish ambitions. In amongst all that, we have a God that loves us and has good plans for us, but the plans just don’t seem to be working out the way we would like sometimes.

Somewhere along the line we have convinced ourselves that if things are going well then God is with us and if things are going bad then maybe He is not. We equate our good circumstances with God being on our side. But trusting in God does not always look like getting what you want.

God never promised us a perfect life, He promised us that if we give our hearts to Him, we will have a perfect eternity.  So, while we desire everything to be just right here on earth, God has a bigger picture in mind. My version of perfect is limited to my worldview and limited life, but God knows better.

There is one character in the Bible who understands what it is to have a bad day but still knows that God is in control. Joseph is a young man that God places His hand on early in his life and He never stops blessing Joseph everywhere he goes. Whether in the middle of family discord and being sold into slavery or being betrayed and put in jail, Joseph still puts His faith in God. Genesis 39:2 tells us that God was with Joseph in everything he did – while he was a slave in Egypt and then when he was later put in jail for something he did not do,

“the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warden” Gen 39:21

But the guy was still in prison! Just because we are facing something hard does not mean that God has left us. In fact, it is probably the time He draws closest to us to bring comfort and peace in times of trouble. There is a level of trust that we have to give into in hard times where we actually acknowledge that even though we may not like what we are seeing, experiencing or facing, God is still for us, He still has good plans for us and He is worthy of our trust.

Trust is something that must be given. God can’t make you trust Him. It requires a certain level of giving over control. We can have faith in God, and believe in Him, yet not always trust Him.

God always knows best. This can be difficult to place trust in when you are facing something hard. That is because our version of what is best for us might look different from God’s. We see this in Jesus. The Israelites wanted a warrior to start a war on the Romans. But God sent a man – His own son – to take the burden of sin and fight an invisible battle with Satan. Because Rome was not actually the problem, sin was.

When you are facing a hard circumstance, you can try to sort it out yourself in your timing. But this sometimes means we get in the way of what God is doing.  We only see what is right in front of us – our version of Rome, but God sees the big picture. God can see that yes, our circumstances might be hard, but He has the peace that will get you through that hard time. Sometimes there is something great on the other side of something hard that we can’t see, but He can.

Trust is a word that requires us to give control over to something else. Who better to have in control than God? The Creator of the universe, even better the Creator of me. The God who tells me –

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk
through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:1-4, 6

We cannot allow what we are facing to stop us from facing God. And how do we keep our eyes fixed on God? We pray in it, through it, and over it. We worship in all circumstances no matter how we feel. And we turn to scripture to remind us of His truth. That in Him I lack nothing, He refreshes my soul. And when things are harder than we can handle by ourselves, the body of Christ can come around us and support us. Together we can trust God in all circumstances.