How to Build Your Trust in God in Hard Times

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It’s not always easy to trust God.

We talk a lot about having faith in God, but do we really trust God? Trusting God requires us to walk away from our need to control the outcome of every situation.

It requires us to rest, knowing that God has a purpose for every situation.

No situation has ever taken God by surprise. Never has God sat up on His throne, scratching His head, wondering what happened.

Anything that happens in our life is by God’s design or permission.

No, God doesn’t do evil or bad things, but sometimes he permits the enemy access; what we need to know is this:

When God allows bad things to happen, He only allows it to accomplish a purpose and plan already set forth in your life.

He will NEVER allow bad things to happen for no reason.

How to Build Your Trust in God in Hard Times

I am always amazed when reading about the life of Joseph at how we never read that Joseph was offended, confused, or disillusioned by what he endured with his brothers.

His brothers must have had a special kind of jealousy, throwing him in a pit (after having settled on not killing him) and then being comfortable enough to sit down to eat.

I honestly can’t imagine having that level of hatred for someone.

I wonder if Joseph heard them talking about killing him. I wonder if he overheard the change of plans to sell him instead.

But through it all: being thrown in a pit, being sold as a slave, being sold into Potiphar’s house, being thrown in prison — he never wavered in his trust in God’s ultimate plan.

Joseph knew God had given him visions.

I wonder if there were times while sitting in that prison forgotten and with no end in sight, if he began to have second thoughts about those dreams.

I wonder if he asked God, “Were those really from You?”

I wonder if he had a John the Baptist moment.

Like Abraham, it must have seemed his dream was dying right before his eyes. But it wasn’t – like God provided the ram in the thicket, for Joseph God had a greater purpose.

And all of the hardship Joseph faced was only a training school leading up to the big moment.

There would come a time when God would reveal the greater purpose for the pain and suffering he had to endure.

What would have happened if Joseph had found a way to circumvent the suffering?

What would have happened if Joseph had grown bitter and walked away from God?

What would have happened if Joseph had found an easier way to walk through those hard times?

How would biblical history had been altered? The story of Moses and the exodus of the Jews from Egypt hinges on the story of Joseph.

Have there been times you’ve tried to find a way to circumvent the suffering God allows in your life?

Have you grown bitter at God because of bad things that have happened?

Have you tried to find easier ways to get through the hard times God has allowed for you?

What greater purposes might be altered because you haven’t allowed God’s plan to play out for His glory?

If we want to build our trust in God, we must do these four things

1. Renew Our Mind.

How do we renew our mind?

We renew our mind with the Word of God. But it takes more than just reading the Word. We have to memorize it. Think on it. Meditate on it.

Christian meditation is not like transcendental or New Age meditation. It doesn’t require you to empty your mind but rather fill your mind with God’s Word until that Word completely changes you.

2. Refocus Our Emotions. 

Emotions in and of themselves are not wrong. Jesus showed emotion: joy, sorrow, disappointment.

The problem is when they lead us, instead of us leading them, or when we believe what they tell us. How do we refocus our emotions and lead them?

When they lie to us, we combat them with the truth of God’s Word.

• God has left me. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Joshua 1:5
• This is too hard. I can’t walk this Christian life anymore! “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13
• I have no luck! What did I ever do to deserve this kind of a life with no hope! “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

3. Restore Our Vision. 

Peter began to sink when he took his eyes off of Jesus and looked at the water around him.

Whenever we begin to look at the circumstances around us, at how sinners succeed in life while we follow biblical principles and are suffering for it, we will become envious.

We need to restore our vision.

We need to turn our gaze upward!

Being successful isn’t that important, but rather having eternal life! We can be successful and still go to hell where our success won’t matter very much!

It would be better to have achieved nothing in this life, while remaining humble and faithful and go to heaven where we will receive a crown of  life from Jesus’ hands and hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” (Matthew 24:21)

4. Redirect our Defaults

I don’t know about you, but when things go wrong I often default back to my old thought life. “Nothing ever goes my way.” “I really have no luck!” “You idiot, you’re so dumb. You can’t do anything right!”

I am really trying to correct those thoughts, because they are not from God, but from Satan!

God doesn’t think I’m am idiot and that I can’t do anything right. I don’t believe in luck and a lot of things have “gone my way”, not because of me but because of God who has opened up amazing and miraculous doors!

But those old thought patterns destroy my faith. When I look at the circumstances around me, I take my eyes off of Jesus and open the door for the enemy to lie to me with those old thoughts.

How do we redirect our defaults? By doing steps 1-3.

As we consistently follow these 4 steps, we will discover the joy of walking in full trust and confidence that in every situation God has a plan.

His plan is always that He is glorified and that we are being shaped in His likeness.