There are a number of different reasons why some people are afraid to trust God for His help. But it seems that in the troubling days we are living in, a few more people each day are at least considering the possibility of receiving help from God. Perhaps this article can be of great assistance to those wondering if they really can trust God to help them.
Why are some people afraid to trust God? Some are afraid of the answer they might receive. Others are afraid that they are not worthy of receiving His help. Still others fear that God may not give them what they really need. But are these really valid reasons, or are they just suppositions or assumptions based on falsehoods?
Some are afraid to trust God because they have heard that God gives you sicknesses or problems just to test your faith. It’s pretty hard to put your trust in someone who just might bring disaster in your life, isn’t it? I don’t believe that God brings misery and tragedy into your life to test you. That is not the action of a loving God.
Others have a hard time trusting God because they just don’t feel like their life has measured up to the standard that they think warrants having God’s blessing on their life. In other words, they are afraid that they don’t deserve God’s help or His blessings, because they haven’t been as “good” as someone else said that they should be. Some sincere religious soul has duped them into thinking that they must earn God’s love.
Others are afraid that God’s answer might bring them help in a way that they would not like. In other words, if they ask and trust God for housing that they need, they are afraid that His answer might be a one room apartment and that they would then need to be thankful and just accept it. But that is just the opposite of what is promised in the Bible. The Bible says that God supplies all that we need.
He Is Not Testing Your Faith
God does not rain problems down on your life to test your faith. God does not bestow His love and blessings on those who have earned it and deserve it. (Who would qualify?) And, God does not answer our prayers with inferior results that do not supply our needs. Those assumptions are erroneous, and those who teach such are teaching error and are actually preventing people from receiving from a loving and kind God.
So, we are left with a decision. We can either choose to not trust God based on what people say, or we can choose to trust God based on what He says. There are countless scriptures where God encourages us to trust Him. The Bible is full of exhortation for us to call upon Him for help. And, He has made promise after promise that He will indeed help us.
What does it really mean to trust Him? Is it some kind of blind faith? Is it more than just saying that we are trusting in Him? What can we expect from Him when we do indeed trust Him?
How To Trust God
To trust God is to have absolute confidence in Him and simply accept and believe what He has promised us. It is not a casual request to someone who may or may not be interested in helping. It is not going through some religious motion or notion of saying a prayer and then hoping for the best.
Trusting God means that we have no doubts; we are convinced. We recognize that He is unlimited in His resources to supply. We recognize that He is the One Who said that we ought to ask for His help. We accept and believe that what He has promised He is willing and able to perform on our behalf. That is how to trust God.
We have many examples in the scriptures of those who believed and trusted God and received genuine help from Him. Those examples cover aspects of life including healing, finances, peace and safety, to name a few If they trusted God and received the help that they needed, so can we.
We each choose what we are going to believe. We can choose to believe some sincere soul who claims to speak for God but is in fact not speaking truthfully according to the scriptures. Or, we can choose to accept what God says and take Him at His Word, putting our complete trust and confidence in Him. If we truly want the results that we are looking for, we would be wise to trust in God.
Mike Verdicchio
2012
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Thank you Mike. As usual this was encouraging and edifying. More importantly, IT’S THE TRUTH. I’ve had people say to me and others, that God is just making you miserable to teach you something. NOT! God bless you Bro…Love to you and Cathy
Jeannie Hamborsky Toutloff
Jeannie, I’m glad it was encouraging and inspiring – have a great weekend.
I wish it worked like that. We fully trusted God with my dad’s brain cancer. My dad is no longer here. The consequences of that have left a huge gaping hole in our family. My mom is no longer herself and I now have to stop living for me to tend to her and the house, instead of walking my own path in life.
Robert, I am sorry to hear about your dad. I understand the gaping hole, having lost my Kathy such a short time ago. Until Christ returns, we all have these mortal bodies. And until that great day comes, when we mortals will put on immortality, and those in the grave are raided incorruptible, we can still trust God, believe God, and do our best to live for Him and love others. This life is so very, very short compared to eternity, which God has promised us. His Ward is true, God has given us the victory over death – and we will joyfully enjoy that victory when God sends His Son from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, to gather us – we will meet him in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Hi Mike !! 🙂
Thanks for writing the “How” of trusting God !! 🙂 It sure is a blessing to be informed about the “Hows” of doing God’s Word so that we can make it a genuine part of our everyday walk (living). 🙂 Thanks so much for your constant, faithful articles that you never slack on even if day after day or year after year you never receive one comment as to whether it was helpful to someone or not….you sure are helpful to God and His Son Jesus Christ ! And though I don’t comment as much as I would like to, you can rest assured, I love it when I see a new Confidence and Joy in my mailbox ! 🙂 Thanks Mike for all you freely give !!! Agape’, Carol 🙂 xo
Carol, you are very kind. Thanks for your loving comments, and God bless you big time!
He does test us though, there are stories in the bible that prove it. The only reason stopping me is that it will be a trial, it will be hard. I wish I could trust him more, but I’m staying safe and secure.
Jonathan,
Yes, there are a few incidents in Scripture of God, and even Jesus, “proving” someone. Jesus asked Philip a question to “prove” or test to see where his thinking was.
But we need to remember the Bible tells us that God cannot be tempted with evil and neither does He tempt anyone with evil. Sickness, death, and other evil things do not come from God to test our faith.
There is an adversary who’s chief aim is to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10) Jesus came to give us victory over the adversary and deliver us from his evil. It is sad to me that people think the One True God is doing what the adversary is doing.
A great step in learning to trust God is to recognize that He does not bring evil, but rather delivers us from the evil. The Bible says that Jesus always did the will of the Father and His will is deliverance from the evil of the devil.
God bless you.
Acts 10:38
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
How to you begin to trust God when you are afraid of being disappointed by Him? After all the buck stops with Him. After being disappointed by people and life circumstances it’s difficult. Although I do have to admit that I am better today then I was last month and the month before that. But I really want to get to a place where I release it all and totally surrender to resting in God. How do I get to that place of total surrender? Being in between is so uncomfortable.
Marilyn.
The more you know and understand God, the more you can trust Him.
He reveals Himself in the Bible, But, you must make sure you have a right understanding of His Word.
I’d also suggest you read some of the Love Nuggets I’ve posted recently.
God bless you.
I’m in a horrible place. I fell and can’t seem to find my way.
Most disturbing is a belief I had been in fellowship and led by the Lord only to find I had been led astray for 5 years.
I’ve repented and now I’m terrified.
I feel like I was so badly deceived.
I’ve stopped praying and I’m feeling abandoned by God.
Please pray for me.
I have been a Christian for many years. Now I’m not sure I was ever saved. Where once I could find comfort and assurance in prayer and worship, now I cannot. I’m afraid I will connect with evil and not the true Jesus. I sought God wholeheartedly. How could this have happened?. I feel stuck in a dark place and my heart is hard and I’m scared I’m hopelessly back slidden or worse, not even saved.
Kim,
Jesus Christ paid the price for all sins, once and for all.
The Bible teaches that those who accept Christ have redemption and forgiveness.
The Bible also says that nothing can separate you from God’s love.
It is a choice to accept what the Word of God teaches, and believe it, regardless of what others say, or even how you feel.
If you want, you can send me a personal email.
May you accept God’s deliverance,
God bless you.
Hi, I’m struggling with doubt, I just have trouble putting my trust in God in fear that he won’t answer, or help. I’ve been trying to seek God, but I think I’ve been trying so hard,(paying attention to my problems rather than God), that He doesn’t answer, because I have to trust Him. I don’t know what to do, I want to be closer to be God and love Him and trust Him, but it’s like I can’t. I read His word all the time, trying to focus on His love, but I doubt His love. This’s a major problem, and I want to stop doubting… I doubt His existence, His love, His promises! I feel unfixable… I need the Lord with me, but I don’t know if He really is with me, or if I am His. Please answer and pray for me, thanks!
Hannah,
Your trusting or not trusting God is really between you and Him.
From what I know of the Bible, God simply asks us to believe Him.
We believe Him by accepting His Words as true; it is a choice.
Know this with absolute certainty: if you have accepted Jesus as lord of all men and believe that God raised him from the dead, God’s Word states that you are saved.
You are His child; you belong to Him; nothing can ever separate you from His love.
He has promised you that He will never leave you, nor forsake you.
I will gladly pray for you.
Accept His words as true.
God bless you,
Hi, Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
My least favorite verse is Hebrews 11 verse 13 ” All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.”
I feel like that this verse is God’s “defense” when he doesn’t answer our prayers.
I would expect that he should fulfill all promises made to his children on earth and the promises concerning with Heaven to be fulfilled in Heaven.
For lack of a better example…my request for employment should be fulfilled on earth…I doubt I will be looking for a job in heaven.
Thank you for providing this forum.
Mumbi,
My understanding of that verse in Hebrews 11 is pertains to the promised of the coming savior.
They believed the promises of his first coming, but they died before he came.
Today, we believe Christ is coming back, we may not live to see it come to pass, but we believe it.
I do hope you get the employment you are praying for, and I hope my eBook on prayer is helpful in that regard.
God bless you.
Ive tried to trust in God I continually try but I’ve always had a problem of who I am among my fellow men. Inferior.
Thinking God would change thia I trusted him but all that was done is I was more inferior lesser blessed and favoured. Then I realized the worlfda a giant pyramid. And God cant change anything unless it was part of a bigger plan. Blessed are those who were prepared for opportunity cursed are those who aren’t regardless if you trust God…
Gordon,
Thanks for leaving a comment.
Reading and understanding what God has done for you and who He made you to be will help you greatly.
I would recommend Have You Failed? and Toxic Thoughts as a good starting point.
God bless you
When the threshold of your will and faith which nonetheless is attributed to trust in things hoped for, its hard to understand what God did for me compare what I did for myself. Faith is how we are saved, but many cannot have faith. Do you believe that faith is subject to the physical world, or vice versa?
DO you have faith in things you DONT HOPE FOR? that would be silly. I watch unbelievers have faith and because their surroundings offers them what they have faith in, its comes into fruition.
what were talking about here is the threshold of righteous judgement. Just like the israelites judged their enemies proudly, Because they are BETTER products.
I see many pictures of you going around the country meeting with high profile pictures. It looks like you were able to choose your wife, have beautiful kids, and now grandkids! You say God bless america.. I feel like among those who are saved, its difficult to ignore the next area of judgement which occurs in humans. Its like this, If a christian is looking for a wife, the first criteria or filter is are they a believer… Than what? How they look, who their parents are, How much God loved them in the flesh right? So you have a majority that has righteous upbringing and influence and some that do not. Doesnt the righteous have the God given right to exclude or ignore those who dont fit the criteria of their superiority? Will God change that for me? .. i doubt wholeheartedly. Its not about self condemnation based on what I do, or my TOXIC THOughts,ITS THE basic understanding of what makes blessings. with blessings ud have to have curses, or blessings would not stand out right?
Hi!
I am afraid of God’s will. I am afraid that He won’t give me what I pray for. Or help me to get it.
I’ve prayed for 5 months now for God to help me reconcile a relationship i’ve had. I know that it was a relationship God gave me as a gift. There is no doubt.
Now that it is broken, I am having a hard time trusting that God will help. I don’t know if I should trust that God will help and I will recieve what I pray for, beacuse I am afraid that God won’t give me it and I would be dissapointed and even more broken. I don’t know what to think and believe in. And If I don’t trust God I’m also misserable and anxies.. then there is no hope at all.
What should I do? I am afraid that God won’t heal my broken relationship. I know I would die inside if I put my trust in Him and He would dissapoint me… Why wouldn’t He help?
Please help me? How should I pray? And what should I think about trusting God, if I don’t know His will in my situation?
I’m going back and forth all the time with my thoughts and can’t get rest and I’m anxies all the time. I can’t take my life if this relationship won’t get fixed, because I know God can, I’m just afraid He won’t…. His will scares me alot.
Please pray for me and the relationship!
Hanna,
Our God is a good, loving, kind and forgiving God. He is very trustworthy – we can rely on His reliability.
He desires for our lives to be blessed.
We must remember that He gave us free will. When it comes to relationships, that involves two – two people and two free wills.
In other words, God will not overtake, or possess someone to do something.
Yes, you can pray for the relationship, and the other person, but it is still their decision what they think and which direction they will go.
Always remember, that regardless of what people do, we can look to God to help, mend, hel, and if necessary, start over.
God bless you.
Thank you for posting this. I am 39 years old. I trusted Christ into my heart when I was 7 years old. Spiritually over the years I’ve grown to trust him and seen his goodness and faithfulness in my life. New Years eve, my mother was rushed to the hospital. She battled for her life and during this time I was fearful. But she was able to come home 3 weeks later. The following week after she came home my sister found her grasping for her life once again. This time it was a massive stroke. Fear overwhelmed me again. Its been 9 months since then. She did live through it but cannot speak and still learning to walk. Fear and anxiety has sent me into a tale spin since then and I feel I’m having to learn to trust God on a much deeper level now. The battle is mostly in my mind. Crossing over to complete confidence again is where I want to be.
Thank you again for sharing.
Walking with God
Isabelle,
Thanks for sharing your heart – prayers for your mom. And yes, sometimes our confidence gets shaken; but we can put our confidence and trust in our wonderful God. And we can be ever so confident that one day He will send His Son back – and wipe away all tears from our eyes…
God bless you,
We have to trust in Gods will vs our own will. What if I don’t know his will, it will probably be different. How can I trust in things I don’t know, or maybe even don’t want? Is it possible to have my desires still. And hope for things that I want? I did that in the past and I was heart crushed. Now I don’t hope, I just kind of say “Whatever your will is I trust” it’s very vague and uncomforting.
Jonathan, thanks for leaving a comment. We find out God’s will from looking into His Word, the Bible.
You are right, to just kind of say, “WShatever your will…” Look to the Scriptures to find His will for you.
At 67 years of age, I am experiencing a spiritual crisis. I have recently become aware of how Ihave hurt or not helped when I could, many people in my life. I shy from turning to God, perhaps because I was raised in the concept of sin and of God wanting to sacrifice myself for him, when garden roses are allowed to live as beautiful roses, period. I’m scared, too.
Thank you for reading
Louise, thanks for leaving a comment – I will send you a personal email. God bless you.
Thank you for your post. I want to believe it, but it is so hard. All the assumptions you described above–God raining problems down on your life to test your faith and God answering our prayers with inferior results that do not supply our needs–are exactly what I have experienced in my life when I would start to trust God. I know we can’t count our experiences as the absolute truth, but the Bible does mention about God testing our faith through trials, like refining us through fire (Psalm 66:10, Isaiah 48:10, 1 Peter 1:7). That’s what I am afraid of. I have already had a lot of pain and loss over these past few years. I am afraid of what else God will do to me if I trust Him. Do you know of any Bible verses that support what you said? I like what you said, but you don’t back it up with any Scripture. I am very interested in seeing God the way you portray Him, and I want to see the Bible verses as proof.
Rachel, thanks for leaving a comment. There are a number of places where Scripture is clear that God does not bring evil or bad things on people to “test their faith.” “God is light and in Him is no darkness,” comes to mind. In the book of Job, it is clear that it was Satan who smote Job. Paul in II Corinthians knew where all the junk he had to deal with was coming from: “the messenger of Satan.” He also mentions that in wanting to travel to a certain area, “Satan hindered us.” He also stated that we should not be ignorant of “Satan’s devices.” Jesus said the “thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.” In James 1:13 it says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.”
The God of the Bible is a loving, delivering God! Until Christ returns there will be evil in this world – but deliverance from the junk is available, as Paul stated in II Timothy, that God delivered him out of them all, including the lion’s mouth. We can choose to put all our trust and confidence in Him!
God bless you!
I know we should trust God. I am having a hard time trusting to see a reconciliation in my marriage. My husband divorced me for unjust cause. He is w someone else now. He has walked away from God in the meantime. But I am having a really hard time accepting this. I believe He put us tog. Everything looks so hopeless. I want to believe God can fix things but I am not sure He will. I don’t really have a plan b if He doesn’t. Different times through the marriage just when I thought all was lost something would happen. Eg. I remembered sitting outside in my yard and thinking I would prob never see him again, and just then he walked through the gate. There was no indication of him coming over at that time. I feel like God did that. Because no one else knew what I was thinking at that moment in time except for Him. But why would the Lord allow him to divorce me and be w someone else??? I don’t understand that doesn’t seem like somethg God would let happen??? Now I have to write a life changing test and I don’t know if I can?? I failed it the first time and I don’t know if God would help me. I just feel so broken that all my prayers seem to go to an iron cast heaven, and I just don’t know what will happen. I just can’t take another heartbreak. I so badly want to trust Him to take care of me but the one thing I wanted most I lost. Now I just feel like it’s an exercise in a broken heart to think He would help me. I can’t seem to get past this, I can’t tell anyone. God forbid that you would as a Christian admit you are scared to trust God.
Hello, Anonymous,
I have sent you a private email and I hope it is helpful.
God bless you,
I have to disagre with you that God doesn’t at times for his pupose brings sickness into our lives. Biblically speaking, He does. That is not to say that this is the reason for all sickness. God is LOVE and God’s love does what is ultimately best for His children. There are many instances in the Bible where God, not only allowed suffering (Job) and turns it for our good but also inflicted it. Sickness is a result of sin in a fallen world but non-the-less sometimes God causes sickness for His purpose.
God uses sickness as a method of discipline or as a judgment against sin. King Uzziah in the Old Testament was struck with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:19-20). Nebuchadnezzar was driven to madness by God ‘until’ (purpose) he came to understand that “the Most High rules in the affairs of men” (Daniel 4). Herod was struck down and eaten by worms because he took God’s glory upon himself (Acts 12:21-23). There is even at least one case where God allowed disease—blindness—not as punishment for sin, but to reveal Himself (purpose) and His mighty works through that blindness (John 9:1-3).
Ture God doesn’t tempt us… but there is a difference between ‘tempt and test’, He does not tempt us to sin, to do evil, but He does test our faith and sometimes that test comes through sickness.
https://www.gotquestions.org/God-allow-sickness.html
Marie, thanks for leaving a comment. There are a number of keys to understanding the Scriptures – one of which include understanding difficult verses in light of clear verses.
It’s very clear when you read in Acts that Jesus went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. That makes it very clear that everyone he healed was afflicted by the devil. In fact, in Luke 13 Jesus specifically stated that the woman he was healing had been bound by satan for 18 years. It is clear in Job that it was satan who smote Job.
There are a number of other clear verses that tell us where sickness, disease and death come from.
There is also a time coming when there will be no more sickness and death, because the the devil is destroyed.
Yes, God knows the devil is at work as the god of this world, and it is he, the devil who afflicts.
Yes, in situations of afflictions, God does render help and healing, and many times people learn to trust and believe God for His healing.
But if you thoroughly study this subject, which neither my article, nor this response, nor even the book I wrote covers the subject completely, you will find sickness does not come from God.
I am in the same boat as a few of these people. And also would have to say that while the direct cause of sickness and pain and all the evil is the devil, God still allows it. In Job, satan had to go to God for permission and God gave it to Him. I think that is where many of us are struggling. We trust God and know that He is good but we are afraid of what trials God will allow for the purpose of His good will.
Jessica, thanks for leaving a comment.
If you read carefully in Job, God did not give satan permission, rather He noted that satan had the power. In Luke 4, in tempting Jesus, the tempter told Jesus the power he had was delivered to him. God originally gave all the power and dominion to Adam – when Adam sinned, he not only lost the spirit God gave him, but transferred all the power and authority God originally gave him. That is how the devil became the “god of this world.” There is a day when there will be no more crying and no more dying – our adversary will be destroyed. Until that time, he continues to do what Jesus said – steal, kill and destroy. BUT, God has not changed – He is still a powerful and delivering God – His promises to us are still true! We can rely on His reliability as we put all our trust in Him.
God bless you
I believe that I am afraid to trust God because if I ask Him for protection, for myself or a loved one, and something bad happens, then I would have a crisis of faith, and have to deal with not understanding the “why.” It would cause me great grief and heartache towards God. So, isn’t it better to just pray “Your will be done?”
Patti, thanks for leaving a comment. I’m going to send you a personal email that will better address your questions and concerns. I do know God’s will is deliverance! God bless you.
How do you explain Job? He allowed Job to lose it all.
Sue, thanks for leaving a comment.
There will come a day when our enemy, the adversary, the devil, will be no more. Until that day he continues to inflict evil. In difficult times, God’s Word directs us to pray and trust Him! Job trusted God through his horrible hardships, endured, and God delivered him. What a great example Job, and others, are of trusting God for deliverance, even in our darkest hours.
God bless you.
Thank you for the article from so many years ago. I am in a position where my business, my livelihood, isn’t in line with God’s will and I need to have faith that when I walk away from the profitable, sinful business nature, God will bless the decision and keep me and my family solvent, a roof over our heads and our needs taken care of. I am scared, terrified actually, but if God’s promises are true for those who are obedient, here I am Lord. Please lift me though this. Here goes………………
Aaron, thanks for leaving a comment.
God’s promises are indeed true! We can absolutely trust His Word!
Pray much and ask Him to direct your steps. And remember, God has solutions we’ve never even thought of!
Isaiah 55:8 & 9:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God bless you
Hi. I really hope you see this
What if you don’t trust God anymore because when you did he failed you and you did everything by the book but yet still everything crumbled until you left the faith and took matters into your own way. What if you find that being away from god is easier it’s less painful and you just can’t feel that again.
But being away from god makes you so ugly and unrecognizable but you’re safe.
How do you trust God again
Mimie, The promises of God are new each day – God remains constant; He does not move. People can turn away from God, try to hide, like Jonah, but God never moves. His Word tells us He is a forgiving and merciful God. Perhaps a starting point on how to trust God again would be to read Psalm 103, and perhaps read it more than once. God never promised that He would answer every prayer the way we want Him to – but, His Word says that He is faithful to His Word. Our job is to believe Him, and at times, we all fall short in doing that. But, each new day is a new beginning for each of us to determine to put ALL our trust in Him.