Can I trust God?

By Jennifer Moreno

Trust is an important ingredient to surrendering to God. But many people find it hard to trust in God because they don’t know him. Others can’t trust in God because things are not going right in their life, circumstances seem to never change and life is just simply hard.

But it is during these times that God wants you to trust him more than ever. God never lied to us saying living here on earth would be all candy cane and roses. John 16:33 shows it clearly when God said to us that it wouldn’t be easy – “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

It is through these times that God can show his glory and how He can deliver you if you trust in him. You can’t surrender to God unless you trust him, but you can’t trust him until you know him better and learn why you should trust him.

It is only natural that we don’t immediately trust, it is in our nature. We don’t trust someone until we get to know them better. The same concept applies here, how can we trust God if we don’t allow ourselves to give him a chance and get to know him better?

There are other reasons why people don’t trust God, fear is one of them. Fear keeps us from surrendering to God, but the Bible says “perfect love casts out all fear.” God’s perfect love for you will allow you to cast out that fear. The more you realize how much God loves you, the easier it will be to surrender to him.

But how do you know God loves you? Here are some versus below that shows how God loves you.

Hebrews 13:5 – “ I will never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.” 

Jeremiah 29:11 says ” For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Romans 5:8 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Psalm 86:15  “But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

And of course we know the greatest example of God’s love for us is the sacrifice God’s Son for you.

I could show dozens of examples, the Bible is filled with scripture detailing God’s love for you. But only you can see it for yourself if you allow it.

All of these scriptures sound nice and comforting, but how can you trust God’s word? Simple – The Bible says God’s word is powerful and active, sharper than a double-edged sword. God doesn’t lie and he is faithful to his word.

Numbers 23:19 tells us –  “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

God is not like men, God has the power to bring to pass what He plans and purposes to do. Isaiah 14:24 details this, saying “The LORD Almighty has sworn, ‘Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.’”

God’s word is truth, so you can rest assure that God loves you and you can trust in him. God loves you and accepts you just how you are, He already loves you and there is nothing more or less you can do to earn God’s love. God says He is “with us even when we’re against ourselves.”

God wants us to understand that He is a gentleman and He isn’t here to force you to submit to him. He never tries to break our free will, but instead woos us to himself so that we might offer ourselves freely to him. When you submit to God with a genuine heart, He brings you freedom and not bondage. And that’s when we realize that Jesus is not a tyrant, but a savior and a friend.

Pride 

Another huge barrier that can interfere with you trusting in God is your own pride. This one is all too very common and if you may remember Lucifer was casted out of heaven precisely because of his pride. He thought he could be better than God and wanted to be God.

Pride is the root of all sin, it will get you nowhere. All it will cause is separation from God, bitterness in your life, envy, strife, greed, jealousy and it will just stump your progress at ever becoming a better you. Why? Because pride doesn’t allow you to see past yourself, it puts a block from God ever touching your heart. God doesn’t like pride, he blesses the humble.

Once we realize that we are just creatures and that we’re not in charge of everything, we break that struggle we have with God. Because in the end it really is just a struggle between you and God when you allow pride to get in the way.

Humans are sinful, unpredictable, unreliable, we have limited wisdom and we constantly make bad choices. We can’t even trust in ourselves sometimes because too often we are guided by our emotions. It is much more wiser to trust in God who is all powerful, perfect, all-knowing and who wants the best for us.

So the next time you feel that you are doubting God, or you just simply don’t trust him. Remember that He is always there for you, he’ll never forsake you,  He is faithful, He loves you and never has plans to harm you but to prosper you.

And lastly, remember Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” 

The truth is — you are as close to God as you choose to be. God wants you to get to know him and trust him.