Can I Trust You?

It’s hard to make sense of a reality that doesn’t match up with the dreams, calling, and expectations I had for myself. I’ve struggled to reconcile decades of hard work, purpose-driven work, with the reality of being at home and not working. With the reality of rejection after rejection.

Maybe you know the feeling–the ache of an unanswered prayer, a dream unfulfilled, or frustrated plans. 

How can I trust that this is for my good? Is Your way really better than the plans I made?

If your inner dialogue sounds like this, let me first give you the permission to think it, to ask it aloud. I’ve been there, I am there now. But if you’re like me, then maybe it feels a little scary, a little bit unnatural to ask these questions of a God who knows all things, created all things, and is able to do all things!

But even our darkest thoughts, our lowest moments, doubts and questions, the Lord hears you, sees you, and knows you. 

“Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey….” (Exodus 3:7-8).

So what do we do with these overwhelming doubts? How can we restore our trust and our hope in the God who hears, who sees, and who knows us?

If you’ve been walking with Jesus for a while, you can probably count some of the ways God has been good, faithful, and kind over your life. But man, it feels so difficult to acknowledge and remember these ways when our present circumstances are causing so much pain, so much unnecessary difficulty.

Elijah’s story illustrates this well. After confronting King Ahab and the people of Israel at Mount Carmel, Elijah boldly declared the Lord’s power and might to the Israelites. He prayed faithfully to God seven times to send rain. Elijah showed unwavering trust in the Lord amidst a fiery crowd of Baal worshippers, and after 3 years of drought, Elijah’s prayers were answered and the Lord sent rain (1 Kings 18). 

But immediately after, Ahab, one of the most wicked kings in Israel’s history, recounted Elijah’s actions to his wife Jezebel, who promptly turned and threatened death on Elijah’s life. Elijah was so afraid that he fled to Beersheba and then into the wilderness, effectively exiling himself. He became so depressed that he asked the Lord to end his life, with all of the trust that he had just displayed seemingly vanished. (1 Kings 19:1-4)

Sometimes our circumstances feel so bleak, we resign ourselves to giving up. We become too weary, too disheartened to continue. But even in his misery, Elijah was cared for by God. Elijah’s depression lulled him into a sleep where an angel of the Lord visited him three times to provide him with enough food to carry on his 40 mile journey (1 Kings 19:5-8). The Lord met Elijah in his weakness, in his utter exhaustion, and He wants to do the same for you!

When we can’t see the win or the way out of a tough situation, we have to set our eyes on the Way Himself. Elijah was sustained physically, mentally, and spiritually because of the mercy and provision of the Lord. And since He has done it before, we can rest assured that He will do it again! You need only set your eyes on Him.