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Trusting God: 5 Biblical Strategies For When Life Is Hard

February 25, 2019 by Stephen Altrogge

Let me brutally honest: when the poo hits the fan, trusting God becomes really hard.

I start to run all sorts of, “What if?” scenarios and calculations in my head. What if I can’t pay the bills? What if my kids don’t follow the Lord? What if these symptoms don’t go away? What if I have to deal with this fractured relationship for the rest of my life?

You get the point. Instead of trusting God who has promised to be faithful to me, I trust in my own ability to navigate the circumstances I’m facing.

Of course, this never ends well. I usually end up feeling really anxious, burdened, and like my own personal apocalypse is sure to happen.

So how can I learn to trust in God even when life is really hard and confusing? Here are five biblical strategies. Each one of these should be in my “trusting God” arsenal, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.

Trusting God Strategy #1: Lean Not On My Own Understanding

Proverbs 3:5-6 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 paths.”

When I’m overwhelmed, burdened, and battered by life’s circumstances, I’m tempted to trust in myself rather than the Lord. The unfortunate reality is that sinful self-sufficiency is hardwired into me.

I’m tempted to believe that if I can devise the right strategy and make smart moves, I can get through life on my own. By my wit and grit.

Of course, this is utter nonsense. I’m not smart enough to navigate the dangerous shoals of life. I don’t have the strength or the wisdom to successfully weave through the minefields that I encounter.

Rather, God’s word calls me to trust in him with all my heart and to not lean one iota on my own understanding. When I’m tempted to fear and doubt and worry, God calls me to jettison my own understanding of the situation and trust him entirely.

The simple reality is that I don’t know all the glorious things God is doing in and through my circumstances. I love how John Piper puts it:

God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them…Not only may you see a tiny fraction of what God is doing in your life; the part you do see may make no sense to you.

Things might not make sense to me, but God knows exactly what he’s doing. Trusting God starts with not leaning on my own understanding and trusting God with ALL my heart.

Trusting God Strategy #2: Run To The Throne of Grace

Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

What a sweet, sweet promise this is. I love how honest the Bible is. It clearly acknowledges that there will be times of need. There will be times when I’ll be brought low.

Brokenhearted.

In tears.

Feeling absolutely bewildered by everything going on around me.

Scripture never makes it seem like life is all roses and peanut butter cups. The Bible fully acknowledges that there are times when life just plain stinks.

And it also tells us exactly what to do in those times. When life is hard and circumstances are bewildering and trusting God seems impossible, I am to run to the throne of grace.

There I will find Jesus, ready to give me exactly what I need. He too endured hardship and heartbreak and suffering, and because of this, he can give me grace when I experience the same things.

When I’m struggling with trusting God, he invites me to run to him for sustaining grace.

Trusting God Strategy #3: Remember God’s Character

Lamentations 3:21-23 says, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

How do I grow in trusting God ? By actively calling to mind God’s faithful, steadfast character. This passage in particular encourages me to call three specific things to mind on a regular basis:

• The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
• The mercies of the Lord never come to end and are new every morning
• Great is God’s faithfulness

The glorious alchemy of God’s steadfastness, faithfulness, and constant mercy compelme to trust God. How could I not trust a God whose love for me is never fluctuating and always steadfast?

How could I doubt a God who has fresh mercies for me every morning?

How could I question a God who is unfailingly, unflaggingly faithful?

But here’s the thing. If I’m going to succeed in trusting God, I must actively, constantly call these truths about God to mind. It’s not enough to just know them, like I know that 2 + 2 = 4 and that kale tastes gross. I must engage my mind with these truths.

When I call to mind God’s character, I’m able to trust God even when things don’t make sense.

As Charles Spurgeon said:

Let us lean on God with all our weight. Let us throw ourselves on his faithfulness as we do on our beds, bringing all our weariness to his dear rest

Trusting God Strategy #4: Recall God’s Past Faithfulness

Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

This verse is a glorious reminder that God is absolutely unchanging. From everlasting to everlasting, he is God. He never shifts, never changes, never fluctuates.

Now, what does this have to do with trusting God?

Simply this…

If God never changes, and he has been faithful to me in the past, then I can be absolutely sure that he will be faithful to me in the future.

And God most certainly has been faithful to me in the past. He has sustained me through heartbreak, crippling anxiety, insufferable depression, overwhelming doubts, broken relationships, and a thousand other trials, toils, and snares. From the moment I was born, God has been faithful to me.

Because God never changes, his past faithfulness is a guarantee of future faithfulness. I can be sure that God will continue to sustain me, continue to uphold me, continue to shepherd me to green pastures.

I’m reminded of the verse in the song “He Will Hold Me Fast,” which says:

When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast;
When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast.
I could never keep my hold through life’s fearful path;
For my love is often cold; He must hold me fast.

Yes, God has indeed held me fast, and he will continue to hold me fast. For this reason, trusting God in the midst of trials is truly possible.

Trusting God Strategy #5: Pray For Faith

Philippians 4:5-6 says, “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Ultimately, trusting God is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. Even if I know all the truths above, the Holy Spirit must empower me to take hold of them by faith.

To believe them even when circumstances would say otherwise.

To not lean on my own understanding.

I need the Holy Spirit to move these glorious truths from my head to my heart. If that doesn’t happen, trusting God will be impossible for me.

And so I must consistently, constantly pray that God would enable me to trust him. That God would help me believe his promises and trust him even when life doesn’t make sense. That he would help me to wait patiently for him.

The simple, yet profound truth is that I can do nothing (including trust God) apart from God.

As Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Yes, I am called to actively put my trust in God. I must work at trusting God. At the same time, God must empower me to obey. And so I pray and then I obey.

Trusting God Even When I Don’t Understand

In his outstanding book Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts Jerry Bridges says:

God’s plan and His ways of working out His plan are frequently beyond our ability to fathom and understand. We must learn to trust when we don’t understand.

To me, this seems to be at the heart of trusting God. The simple reality is that most of the time, I have only a very small grasp of what God is truly doing in my life.

And yet, because I know that he’s good and faithful and steadfast and ready to give me grace, I can trust him with my whole heart.

Or as Charles Spurgeon put it:

God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.

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7 Daily Steps to Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart

Perhaps you’ve been told that as a Christian you must learn to “trust in the Lord with all your heart.” But this famous passage from Proverbs 3 contains more than just a general statement about living. Instead, you’ll find the steps you need each day to truly walk with God.

Follow these 7 daily steps to make sure you’re leaning on the Lord:

1. Don’t Depend on You

We live in a world where trust must be earned and seems to be in short supply. But Solomon, the famous king who wrote Proverbs, knew that trust is exactly where we must start:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5)

Most of us have faced disappointments, which have taught us that we can only depend upon ourselves. But living the life God has called us to means unlearning that lesson. Instead, we’re meant to rest in God’s understanding.

We may know in our minds that He possesses all wisdom:

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” Romans 11:33

But sometimes trusting Him completely like that can be tough. So, each day we must consciously lay aside our own plans and expectations—and surrender to His plans.

What if we don’t feel like we can trust Him like that? That’s where step 2 comes in…

2. Cry out to God

Surrendering to God begins with our lips and our thoughts. We need more than a commitment to depend on Him; we need to cry out to Him to show that dependence.

“in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:6)

When we pray, we admit that His ways are higher than ours. We show that we’re leaving our troubles and burdens and dreams in His capable hands. In fact, the Bible promises that when we reach out to Him in prayer, He hears us:

“Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. ” (Psalm 55:17)

We handed the keys of our lives to Him, and we know that He’s able to lead us. But in order for that to work, we have to…

3. Run from Evil

So much in this world can clutter up our relationship with God. John, the writer of the fourth gospel, describes them as the desires of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride in our lives (1 John 2:16). In other words, our blessings can easily become our stumbling blocks when we think of them as what we deserve or what we need to be happy.

Instead, life works best when we remember the true source of our blessings—God—and focus on the things that please Him:

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.” (Proverbs 3:7)

Sometimes, the only way to live the life God wants us to live is by separating ourselves from the bad influences that keep dragging us down. That works the best when we start pursuing something else in their place:

“Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” (2 Timothy 2:22)

Is that easy? Not at all. Fleeing from the evil desires that pull at us means spending a lot of time crying out to God and leaning on Him. But our Creator promises to honor our commitment to Him when we shun evil:

“This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.” (Proverbs 3:8)

When we pursue Him, we find life—abundant life. Running from evil and pursuing God doesn’t come naturally to most of us. Instead, it means we have to make a serious change:

4. Put God First in Your Life

It’s easiest to put ourselves first. When something good happens, we want to congratulate ourselves with a reward. When something bad happens, we want to console ourselves or find someone to blame. In other words, we often have a “me-centric” starting place.

And when it comes to money, the struggle is even harder. But Solomon, who had quite a bit of wealth himself, knew that his money didn’t belong to him:

“Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” (Proverbs 3:9–10)

If we can trust God with the first of our wealth, we’re truly showing how much we depend on Him. Handing over the first part of our paycheck takes a huge amount of faith, after all. But doing so means being God-centric.

To get there, though, make sure you…

5. Check Yourself by God’s Word

Let’s be honest. We aren’t so good at evaluating ourselves. We will go to great lengths to excuse our behavior, our actions, and our sins. Who needs a defense attorney when we can pretty much find a reason for any bad thing we do? The prophet Jeremiah captures this very well:

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

If we’re ever going to truly trust in God and flee evil, we have to know exactly where we stand. We have to find an objective measure that tells us the truth. And that truth comes from God and His Word.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we’ll always like what we see or how we see it:

“My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke” (Proverbs 3:11)

That’s right. Sometimes it takes something bad happening or seeing ourselves in a bad light before we finally admit that we need to change. And the more we’re in the Bible, the more likely this is to happen.

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11)

When we have Scripture planted firmly in our hearts, God will often use that to deal with us.

6. Listen to the Holy Spirit

When Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to the church, He told His disciples that this Counselor would be their spiritual compass or GPS:

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26)

As we go through our day, this same Holy Spirit guides us, too. That means we don’t have to go it alone or hope we’re getting it right. No, the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth and protects us:

“Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” (2 Timothy 1:14)

After all, the gift of the Holy Spirit to us believers reminds us that we can truly…

7. Rest in God’s Love

When we face a difficult world each day, we can sometimes wonder if God even cares. Why do bad things happen? Where is God when I need Him? Solomon reminds us that God never takes a break or leaves us to fend for ourselves:

“because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” (Proverbs 3:12)

Even in the midst of turmoil, God sticks with us and uses those challenges to shape us. When we understand that, our perspective completely flips. No longer do we see our setbacks as failures; we see them as moments when God, as our loving Father, works on us.

And that’s exactly why we can trust in the Lord with all our hearts. He cares for us each and every day. He gives us what we need to thrive. He pours blessing after blessing upon us.

Of course, following each of these daily steps isn’t easy. That’s why Jesus said we have to deny ourselves and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). Trusting God takes a whole-hearted commitment from dawn till dusk. But we’re never alone in it:

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b)