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Trusting God in Your Trial
How do you trust God in difficult times? You begin by asking a different set of questions. Instead of only asking, “How do I get out of this?” ask, “What is God producing in this trial?” Scripture shows that trials can teach us to lose confidence in ourselves and place our trust in the God who raises the dead.
God is less interested in what you are doing and more interested in who you are becoming. He cares about what you have, what you do, and what you want, but what He cares about most is who you are becoming. Life is one big university, every season is like a semester, and trials are the courses God uses to teach us, form us, and lead us to become people who trust Him.
God Is the Guidance Counselor in Your Trials
A guidance counselor helps direct students into the courses they need. In the same way, God is the best guidance counselor there is. He created you, He loves you, He knows you, and He cares deeply about you. The courses He enrolls us in are not called math or science. They are called trials.
That image matters because trials are not random classrooms with no purpose. The Lord uses them to teach us something and to lead us to become someone. Life is one big university, and graduation comes when we go to be with the Lord. Until then, God is forming people who know Him, love Him, and trust Him.
Paul Learned to Trust God in Difficult Times
In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul describes severe trials he experienced in Western Turkey. The hardships crushed him beyond his ability to endure. He was completely overwhelmed and felt like he was about to give up entirely. It felt like a death sentence had been written upon his heart.
But those trials produced something in Paul. They taught him to lose all faith in himself and place all his trust in the God who raises the dead. Paul became someone who no longer depended on what he could do, but became fully confident in what God could do. That is the journey God wants to lead His people on: less dependence on self, more dependence on Him.
Trials Reveal What God Is Producing in You
God cares about the heart. He is after our attention. He wants us to know Him, love Him, and trust Him. That means the question in a trial is not only, “What am I going through?” It is also, “Who am I becoming?”
When you are trying to trust God in difficult times, begin by recognizing the course you are in. Ask, “What is my trial?” The trial may feel overwhelming, but God is able to use it to develop trust. He is leading His people to become those who depend not on what they can do, but on what He can do.
Faith Asks, “What Could God Do?”
The first characteristic God wants to develop in trials is faith. Faith asks, “What could God do?” That question awakens belief. It lifts our thoughts from what fear says is possible to what God says is possible.
Every trial produces movement in us. We are either becoming more full of fear or more full of faith. We are becoming more fearful or more faithful. Fear and faith are developed in the classroom called trials, and every trial becomes a moment to either grow closer to the Lord or become disconnected from Him.
Trials Are a Playground for Thoughts of Faith or Fear
In the midst of trials, the mind becomes a playground for thoughts of faith or thoughts of fear. Thoughts of faith ask, “What could God do in the middle of this?” Thoughts of fear ask, “What do I need to do? How do I need to handle this?”
To become full of faith, the scale of our thoughts must tip toward what God could do and away from what fear says is possible. We become what we think about. We become what we behold. When we think about what God could do, we become more full of faith.
God’s Word Builds Faith in Trials
Fear is easy to find. To get doses of fear, you only need to exist. Turn on the TV, listen to the noise around you, and there is plenty of fear available. But to receive faith, we need the Word of God.
God gives His Word to lead our thought life out of what fear says is possible and into what God says is possible. The Israelites in the wilderness saw God provide a cloud, fire, water from a rock, and manna. Gideon learned that it was not the size of his army, but the size of his God. At Jericho, Israel learned that it was not the might of their army, but the might of their God. These stories help us ask, “What could God do in the trial I am facing?”
Faithfulness Asks, “What Is God Inviting Me to Do?”
The second characteristic God develops in trials is faithfulness. Faith asks, “What could God do?” Faithfulness asks, “What is God inviting me to do?” There is a difference between believing what God could do and learning to do what God is inviting you to do.
Many people repeat the same classes and trials because they keep asking everyone around them, “What should I do?” instead of asking the God who enrolled them in the course, “What do You want me to do?” Faithfulness means learning to do what God says, not simply what everyone else thinks, what the world says, or what seems efficient.
The Secret Place Helps You Know What God Wants You to Do
Jesus is the model for faithfulness. John 5:19 says the Son can do nothing by Himself, but only what He sees His Father doing. Jesus could only do in public what He had heard in private. That is the model for our lives.
The secret place is when you alone meet with God and God meets with you. In a noisy world filled with advice, podcasts, social media, and constant opinions, believers need to get still and ask what God is wanting to teach, develop, and invite them into. The secret is the secret place.
A simple way to begin is to start in the Word and ask, “Lord, what do You want to teach me today?” Then bring the details of the day before God and ask, “What do You want me to do?” This shifts life from reacting to circumstances to responding to what God is inviting.
Waiting on God Reveals Where Your Faith Lies
One course God uses to develop trust is waiting. Waiting can feel like a setback, probation, or even prison. It can feel like your hands are tied while you want to move forward. But waiting is not a setback. Waiting is a setup for the move of God in your life.
Nothing reveals where our faith lies like waiting. When God says wait, do you trust Him? If you trust Him, you know His timing is better than yours. Isaiah 40 says those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. Lamentations says the Lord is good to those who wait for Him and seek Him. Micah says, “I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”
If you are in a season of waiting, ask, “Where is God inviting me to wait?” Write it down so you do not worry in the waiting, but worship in the waiting.
Prayer Reveals Where Your Dependence Rests
Another course God uses to develop trust is prayer. Prayer is not supposed to be the last resort after every stone has been turned over and every door has been knocked on. Prayer must become the first thing we turn to.
This is where dependence shifts from what we can do to what God can do. We may be physically still while praying, but spiritually, things are moving. God is moving. When we partner with the Lord and begin to pray, God begins to move.
The question is not meant to shame us but awaken us: are we prayer warriors, or are we prayer worriers? Do we pray out of fear, as a last resort, or do we pray because we know what God can do? If waiting reveals where our faith lies, prayer reveals where our dependence rests.
Prayer Is Not Inaction
Prayer is not inaction. It is one of the greatest actions believers can take. Martin Luther is remembered for saying, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” He believed prayer was not inactivity but the greatest action he could take.
Scripture shows that faith as small as a mustard seed can speak to a mountain and see it move. God wants to teach His people how to shift confidence from what they can do to what He can do. Waiting and prayer are two courses that reveal whether our confidence is in ourselves or in God.
What Is God Producing in Your Trial?
Paul’s severe trial taught him to lose faith in himself and place trust in the God who raises the dead. God wants to produce that same kind of dependence in His people. He is leading us to become people who know Him, love Him, trust Him, and depend less on what we can do and more on what He can do.
So ask the questions that help you navigate the course you are in:
- What is my trial?
- What could God do in the midst of my trial?
- What is God inviting me to do?
- Where is He inviting me to wait?
- Where is He inviting me to pray?
These questions are a way to journey through the trials of life. They move the heart away from fear and self-dependence and toward faith, faithfulness, waiting, prayer, and trust in God.
Trusting God in Difficult Times Starts Here
Trusting God in difficult times does not mean pretending the trial is easy. Paul’s trials crushed him beyond his ability to endure. He was overwhelmed and felt like he had a death sentence written on his heart. But that trial taught him where his confidence belonged.
The invitation is to humble yourself before God and say yes to what He wants to teach you. Do not rebel against the course. Do not reject what God wants to produce. He loves deeply, He has good things in store, and He is forming people who place their trust not in themselves, but in the God who raises the dead.
FAQ
How Do I Trust God in Difficult Times?
Trust God in difficult times by asking what God is producing in the trial. Identify the trial, ask what God could do, ask what He is inviting you to do, ask where He is inviting you to wait, and ask where He is inviting you to pray. These questions help shift confidence from yourself to God.
What Does the Bible Say About Trials?
The Bible shows that trials can teach believers to stop depending on themselves and place their trust in God. In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul’s severe trials taught him to lose faith in himself and trust the God who raises the dead.
Why Does God Put Us Through Trials?
God uses trials like courses to teach us and form who we are becoming. He is a good guidance counselor who leads His people through seasons that develop trust, faith, faithfulness, waiting, prayer, and dependence on Him.
What Should I Ask God During a Trial?
Ask God, “What is my trial? What could You do in the midst of this trial? What are You inviting me to do? Where are You inviting me to wait? Where are You inviting me to pray?” These questions help you listen to God and respond faithfully.
How Do I Wait on God During a Trial?
Wait on God by trusting that His timing is better than yours. Waiting is not a setback; it is a setup for the move of God. Write down where God is inviting you to wait so that you do not worry in the waiting, but worship in the waiting.
How Should I Pray During Trials?
Pray as a first response, not a last resort. Prayer reveals where your dependence rests. When you pray, you shift confidence from what you can do to what God can do, believing that even when you are physically still, God is moving.