Is It Enough To Trust?

We say we Trust in God. But what about when times get tough? When we don't understand why things happen or don't happen? How do you trust then?

Webster's Dictionary tells us Trust is a firm belief in another's honesty, reliability, etc., or Confident expectation, hope, etc.

How do you hang on to hope when times are tough? Or when time is running out?

It's easy to question why things happen. Why would God allow things to happen, or not to happen in our lives? We all go through times of questioning: Why isn't someone healed? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why are there couples who would make great parents, not able to have a baby—when there are people who don't deserve to have children, or can't take care of them, that keep having them? Why is it someone (who everyone who knows her knows she would make a great nurse) not able to get placed into the nursing program? Why are there smart, talented kids who can't get scholarships to go to college?

I myself have questions: like, why would God allow my husband to loose his job last year? He's a good, hard working, talented man. Why do I have to watch my kids deal with some of the same questions I have? We are very thankful for our new job that God has provided for us, but, we both work for smaller organizations that can't offer us health insurance. Which brings me to my biggest question right now, why on the very month after our insurance runs out, do my doctors find something wrong with me that now makes it impossible for me to get insurance? What are we going to do? What if . . . (I can't even go there)

And the answer to all these questions is: I don't know. I don't know. But, I do know God. And He knows the answers. One thing that I have learned is that we only see in part, God paints on a canvas much larger than we can see, or even imagine!

We just have to trust in Him, even when we don't know the answers. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Then comes the hardest part, waiting. Waiting when we want to see things happen, and happen now! We have to Trust that God's timing is perfect. Ours isn't. We don't see the big picture like God does. We only see what we're going through right now. And that saying: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going!" should be "When the going gets tough, the tough just wait!" (doesn't have the same punch to it does it?) but, that's all we can do sometimes. And He ALWAYS comes through! I wait for You, O Lord; You will answer, O Lord my God. (Psalm 38:15)

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)