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How To Trust In God
When Your Life’s Falling Apart
.
by
JACK WELLMAN
How can we hold on in a world that’s falling
apart, even when financial or physical hardships hit us hard?
Pandemics and Economics
Who would have thought just a few months ago
that a deadly pandemic would sweep the globe, ruining or closing thousands of
businesses, forcing millions to the unemployment lines, and have families
scrambling to make it through the month.
Boy, hasn’t the world changed in the last few
months… and things may never be the same.
Some of the largest entities (sports,
entertainment, etc.) and companies have been hit the hardest, and the things we
took for granted just a few months ago, are now not as easy to access or we
have no access at all.
The ripple effect this pandemic has created
has hit every nation in the world; some harder than others, and Covid-19 hasn’t
even peaked yet!
The sobering thing is, this situation is
still fluid so long-term planning just about becomes impossible.
No one really knows where this pandemic will
end… if it does end!
So what are believers supposed to do when
things really get difficult and it hits close to home?
When we end up with too much month left and
too little money, we can quickly get into serious financial hardships.
And this pandemic’s effect does not
discriminate.
Some of the biggest companies have suffered
just as bad as some of the lowest paid employees have.
A Lack of Trust
I know you’ve heard
this verse which says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not
lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will
make straight your path” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
But do we do that? God does not want us to
trust in ourselves.
The Pharisees trusted in their own
righteousness, which was actually self-righteousness, so they did not trust in
God for their salvation but in their own works (Luke 18:9).
That’s dangerous ground to stand on.
We cannot stand on our own merit. It must be
on the merit of the perfect Lamb of God.
That’s the only way we can be seen as
righteous before God (2
Corinthians 5:21).
Our trust in God includes every facet of our
lives, and that includes our finances.
He knows exactly what the situation is, and
if it looks dire right now, remember, He holds the future.
He won’t forsake you when you really need Him
the most.
We must take God at
His Word and He tells us to “Keep your life free from love of money, and be
content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor
forsake you’” (Hebrews
13:5).
The author of Hebrews
quotes Psalm 118:6, writing, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what
can man do to me” (Hebrews
13:6).
Claim this promise my friend.
God cannot lie, so this is true for you and
it’s true for me, even in an economic depression.
Fear versus Trust
Maybe you can look at fear this way; fear is
a lack of trust.
I’m not sure you can be really fearful about
something and say you trust God.
That is, I don’t see how we can fear our
financial state and still say we trust God.
I’m not accusing anyone, but rather, I admit
to this sin.
I know God’s got
this, but yet I sometimes lay awake at night, thinking, “How am I going to
get through this?”
But rather, “God,
I don’t know what you’re going to do, but I trust you and praise you in the
storm.”
With this, God is very much pleased.
I just wished I was better at it, so I admit it’s
hard to trust God at times.
Building Trust
How can we build up our trust in God?
We can remember the former things He’s done
in the past.
Many people have prayer journals they can
look back to and see how God has been so faithful in answering prayers in the
past.
This means, He’ll be faithful in the future.
If our faith is in
our pocket book, and we depend on our bank balance to give us peace of mind,
then we’ve never read, or forgotten about the truth that “Whoever trusts in
his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf” (Proverbs 11:28).
Solomon said, “Whoever
gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in
the Lord” (Proverbs
16:20).
I don’t trust myself
with the future for one second, because “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a
fool” (Proverbs
28:26a)
And I don’t want to prove to be a fool. I bet
you don’t either.
Conclusion
To have strong faith, we can read accounts in
the Bible where God did the impossible.
I know we must all “hold
firm to the trustworthy word as taught” (Titus 1:9a).
I will claim God’s
promises to be faithful to His children, and “again, I will put my trust in
him” day after day (Hebrews
2:13a).
In my heart I know
that I can trust God with everything, even when “everything” seems to be
falling apart, so “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust
in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7).
What about you? Do you trust in God?
If you’ve never trusted in God, you will be
judged after death (Hebrews
9:27) or
at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:12-15).
So, make today your
day of salvation (2
Corinthians 6:2),
and put your trust in Christ, because “Everyone who believes in him will not
be put to shame” (Romans
10:11).
Jack
Wellman
is a father and grandfather and a Christian author, freelance writer, and
pastor of Central Christian Church in Lincoln, KS & also a Prison Minister.
He did his graduate work at Moody Theological Seminary. His books are
inexpensive paperbacks that are theological in nature: “Teaching Children The
Gospel/How to Raise Godly Children,“ “Do Babies Go To Heaven?/Why Does God
Allow Suffering?,“ "The Great Omission; Reaching the Lost for
Christ," and “Blind Chance or Intelligent Design?, Empirical Methodologies
& the Bible."
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