We will never grow in faith unless we go through times where our faith is tested. It's easy to say you trust God when everything is coming up roses. It's another thing entirely to say it when the future seems uncertain.
What does it mean to trust God when things are down?
The thing about trust is that it isn't always a good thing. The worst of life's emotional anguish comes from broken trust or trust that was misplaced. Trust is only a good thing if it is placed in something worthy of trust. No matter how much we trust - how much faith we have- unless that faith is in something with a firm basis in truth, it is useless.
If you are falling from a cliff, and have faith in a branch to hold your weight - it's not the strength of your faith that determines whether you fall to the ground, it's the strength of the branch.
I can tell myself that my wife and I will get the jobs we want - I can even believe it as I say it. I can squeeze my eyes tight shut and believe it so hard I burst a blood vessel. But does that mean it will come true? It isn't the strength or unshakability of your trust that matters, it is the truth or otherwise of what you are trusting in.
As Christians, should we 'just believe' that everything will be fine - it will all work out as we want? Of course not. Things are manifestly not all fine. Life clearly doesn't go (at least not consistently) just as we would like.
And it is in precisely these difficult times that trust becomes important. The most wonderful statements of faith in God come at the close of the most melancholy Psalms. Trust clearly isn't some crazed assertion that everything is ok. To say that is to deny the nature of the world in which we live. And the nature of the world Jesus lived, suffered and died in.
So what does it mean to trust God?
That depends, again, on the truth behind your trust. Are we trusting God for who he has actually said and shown he is, or are we trusting in a God of our own making (idolatry)?
Do I believe God is never angry? No, I believe he is slow to get angry.
Do I believe God gives us everything we could ever want? No I believe God works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes.
Do I believe that nothing could ever harm me? No I believe that nothing can separate me from the love of God.
Do I believe that God's will is the same as mine? No I believe God's thoughts are higher than mine.
Our trust can't be in some particular desired outcome from a situation. That is faith in something which is not based in fact. I hope for that, I pray for that. I might even go so far as to say I pray to a God whose revealed character of love and generosity makes it LIKELY that he will answer those prayers. But I cannot say I can trust in that outcome. Because God sometimes has other plans.
Daniel's three friends (for lovers of mid 90s talking vegetable bible cartoons, we can call them Shack, Rack and Benny...) are an incredible example of this kind of trust. They said 'our God is able to save us from the fire... but even if he doesn't...'
Their trust was in God, regardless of the immediate outcome. Their devotion to, faith in, trust in God was not conditional on God complying with their will.
The challenge is to trust him regardless of whether his will is our will.
So what does it mean to trust God in uncertainty - when we can't say that what we want to happen is what will happen?
Well, if we trust God, we trust in what he HAS promised us. I trust he will provide for me. Because he told me so. I trust he has a plan for me. Because he told me so. I trust he is working all of these things together for my ultimate good, because he told me so. I trust that at the end of all of this, when as the hymn writer said 'earth's joys grow dim, it's glories pass away', I will see him face to face, and every tear, pain, worry and burden will finally be gone. Because he told me so.
I trust that no matter what happens, and no matter how bad - or good - things get, he will never leave me or forsake me. And if we really grasp the glory of who Jesus is - the pearl of great price - then that has to be enough for us.
As a side note, I've talked about how faith (trust) is powerless unless it is faith placed in something which is objectively reliable. I hear the secular materialist say 'see, you admit it - blind faith is useless'. Yes, of course I agree with that.
But this branch I am hanging on - my faith in Jesus - is rooted in objectively rational fact. There are good reasons to trust this branch to hold my weight. The trustworthiness of the branch is also confirmed by subjective experience. In other words, my faith is not blind - it is faith in a person who I know, who I have experienced, and who is as real to me as the woman I married.
When we decide to trust God we do it on his terms. And his terms are that he is God, and we are not. He might not do as we thought / wished he would. But we can know that in all things, he is unequivocally and eternally FOR us. He loves us. And he asks for our trust.
I trust. I don't know how it's going to work out, I don't know where it's going to take us. I don't know what's around the corner.
But I know Jesus.
And that's enough.
