Trusting God

by Jerry Bridges

Yet, I acknowledge it often seems more difficult to trust God than to obey Him. The moral will of God given to us in the Bible is rational and reasonable. The circumstances in which we must trust God often appear irrational and inexplicable.

When we disobey God, we defy His authority and despise His holiness. But when we fail to trust God, we doubt His sovereignty and question His goodness.

Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

The so-called laws of nature are nothing more than the physical expression of the steady will of Christ.

We make plans but are often forced to change those plans. But there are no contingencies with God. Our unexpected, forced change of plans is a part of His plan. God is never surprised; never caught off guard; never frustrated by unexpected developments. God does as He pleases, and that which pleases Him is always for His glory and our good.

For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.

Usually when we are being trained by someone in a skill, such as in athletics or music, our teacher or coach will explain to us the purpose of the particular drills he is putting us through. Though these drills may at times be tedious and even painful, we can endure them because we know their purpose and the intended end result. But God never explains to us what He is doing, or why. There is no indication that God ever explained to Job the reasons for all of his terrible sufferings.

It was said that in the Jewish household, slaves were not allowed to use the word “Abba” to address the head of the family. It was a word reserved for the children.

We dread the sovereignty of man, because we have no security of its being exercised in mercy, or even justice: we rejoice in the sovereignty of God, because we are sure it is always exercised for the good of his people.

God’s love is an objective truth that cannot be contradicted. But it is truth we must store away in our minds and hearts. Then we must use it in the midst of adversity to deal with our doubts, combat the accusations of Satan, and glorify God by trusting Him.

“You will never really enjoy other people, you will never have stable emotions, you will never lead a life of godly contentment, you will never conquer jealousy and love others as you should until you thank God for making you the way he did.”

We think so much about our responsibility to discover God’s will in a situation or to make wise decisions in life’s choices, but the biblical emphasis seems to be on God’s guiding us.

God did not leave it to Paul to seek His will. Rather, as Paul moved along, God took the initiative to guide him.

We do have a responsibility to make wise decisions or to discover the will of God, whichever term we may prefer to use. But God’s plan for us is not contingent upon our decisions. God’s plan is not contingent at all. God’s plan is sovereign. It includes our foolish decisions as well as our wise ones.

I believe Dr. Packer has expressed it so well: God guides our minds as we think. But the important truth for this study is that God does guide. He does not play games with us. He does not look down from heaven at our struggles to know His will and say, “I hope you make the right decision.” Rather, in His time and in His way He will lead us in His path for us.

It is not that we will learn from adversity something different than what we can learn from the Scriptures. Rather, adversity enhances the teaching of God’s Word and makes it more profitable to us.

I mistakenly thought I could not trust God unless I felt like trusting Him (which I almost never did in times of adversity). Now I am learning that trusting God is first of all a matter of the will and is not dependent on my feelings. I choose to trust God, and my feelings eventually follow.

It means, above all, that we do not sin against God by allowing distrustful and hard thoughts about Him to hold sway in our minds.