Trusting God does not always come easy. Life gets messy and sometimes downright painful. So how do we trust God during those difficult times? I mean, shouldn’t we be getting a “get out of jail free” card just for believing in Him in the first place? 

God said that we should cast all our burdens on Him but never promised that the pain that comes from living in this world would cease. In fact, following God brings pain of its own at times. When we hold on to the idea that life should be easy because we belong to God, we are forgetting how difficult a path Jesus walked. 

The first step in trusting God through difficult times is in acknowledging that there will be difficult times. We must let go of the false narrative that pain only comes to those who do not believe. Following Jesus does not mean the relationship will be healed, the cancer cured, the trauma forgotten and the bank account suddenly overflowing. None of that was promised. 

In Luke 9:57-58 (ESV) we find the exact opposite. Someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Jesus was homeless. Eventually He would die on the cross, but not before praying to God to “let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39 MSG).

Throughout the Bible we are given examples of men and women who struggled in life. There is a mix of those who trusted and those who did not. By looking to the past we can see how God remained faithful even when the people He loved, did not. The stories of the Bible are a glimpse into the big picture. They provide us a way of seeing that our story fits into a much larger one. The pain we feel now, the difficult moment we are having, is working into a larger narrative. While we may not be able to see the purpose today, there will come a time in the future where the pieces begin to fall into place. 

God is working behind the scenes for your good. He is preparing a future for you and me. While we have only a minor glimpse of what is, God can see the whole of creation. Trusting God in difficult times brings peace and healing. It is a declaration that we don’t know the why or even how, but we do know that God’s got it. 

I know I can trust God because He weeps when I weep.