How Did I Get Here?نموونە

For me to fully trust God is to place all my confidence in him—and everything about him. In fact, one Bible dictionary defines our trust as “a reliance or resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, justice, friendship, or other sound principle of a person.” So when I start spinning with all the what ifs, or I start questioning God and his goodness, then I’m no longer trusting him. Maybe, when we find ourselves drifting like this, in order to stop, we need to reframe all the questions racing through our minds, especially the ones that begin with what if. Maybe we need to drop anchor by asking one pivotal question: “What kind of God do I believe in?”

Did you feel the shift in perspective? Ultimately, placing our trust in God is a choice. There are times we trust God because of what we can see, but there are also times when we have to trust God in spite of what we see. When we have to choose to “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). I believe in a God who is good, who does good, and who is working all things together for my good, no matter what is falling apart around me. I trust in the character of God. The nature of God. No matter if I’m temporarily falling apart inside me and the world is falling apart around me. Nothing changes who he is because, “Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Not small problems. Not medium-sized problems. Not even pandemic-sized problems. I believe there are times, in order to stop drifting, we need to go back to what we know to be true about God.

• God is good. (Psalm 119:68)
• God is holy. (1 Peter 1:16)
• God is love and his love endures forever. (1 John 4:7-8; Psalm 136)
• God is for us. (Romans 8:31)
• God sings over us and rejoices over us. (Zephaniah 3:14-17)
• God is faithful to us—and he keeps all his promises to us. (Hebrews 10:23)
• God fights for us. (2 Chronicles 20:15)
• God is just. (Psalm 50:6; 1 John 1:9)
• God is merciful and compassionate toward us. (Psalm 86:15)
• God is always kind and ready to forgive us. (Psalm 86:5)
• God knows all things. (Psalm 139)
• God does not make mistakes. (Psalm 18:30)
• God is on the throne. (Hebrews 8:1)
• God is in control. (Isaiah 14:24)

And on I could go… After more than 30 years of following Jesus, there is much I still don’t understand, but God’s ways are not my ways and his thoughts are not my thoughts. In fact, the Bible says they are both higher. So my starting point in wading through any confusion I might have is that God is God and I am not. If I do not understand something God is doing, it does not suggest a problem with God. It just means I don’t get it. At least, not at the moment. I know from experience that so much more is going on in the purpose of God than we can see. Some things are simply hidden from us, and just because we can’t see them—just because we can’t trace God—doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t trust God and that he isn’t working.