When I first sat down to work on this book, it was 2020, a year that will go down in infamy. A worldwide pandemic had kept most of us in isolation since early that year. According to the World Health Organization, as of November 13, 2020, almost 53 million people had contracted the virus and more than a million had died. A second wave was followed by a third, and the numbers changed drastically. Many lost their jobs, their businesses, and certainly their sense of security. By the end of May 2021, the number of deaths had risen to more than three and a half million. Chaos has reigned during this time. In addition to the messiness of our “normal” lives, cases of anxiety and depression have spiked, the least of the mental and emotional illnesses that have taken root in households because of COVID. Frustration turned to rebellion as the virus lingered and solutions seemed distant. Rebellion led to civil disobedience, which in turn led to broken health protocols and exacerbated the number of cases.

We weren’t long into the pandemic before books and articles began appearing, claiming to have answers to the many questions the disease prompted. Some were written by Christian authors seeking to explain God’s presence in all of this. Then came the conspiracy theories. I have my own theories, but like everyone else with an opinion, they are only theories. But there is one thing of which I am certain: God is where He has always been—in charge. And He can be trusted.

God can be trusted. Those of us who are believers are expected to declare that with passion. I have said it, as many others have. But not so many of us live as if we truly believe that God is trustworthy. We worry. We fret. We stew. We question. We get depressed. We get angry. We make demands. We are fearful. We doubt. These responses are normal enough. But our tendency to cling to, embrace, and nurse them over time indicates that what we say about trusting God might not be what we truly believe.

It is a good time to step back and examine what we believe, or don’t believe, about God. We need to ask ourselves why we so often struggle to trust Him.

I can already hear the objections; “I trust God, but…” It’s that “but” that signals the problem. It isn’t that asking questions is necessarily a bad thing. If we need an example, we need only look to the psalms to see how often David expressed the same concerns and posed the same questions we so often do.

A journey through the Scriptures will strengthen the trust factor in our lives. Though some of those questions may remain unanswered, we will discover that as trust grows, the need for answers begins to lose its importance. We will be able to put our questions to rest more quickly than we have until now.

We will learn the truth of this one key verse from Psalm 46:10, which reminds us to “Be still, and know that I am God.” We will learn that knowing Him better and the trust that grows from that knowledge are enough.

We often judge God by what we have discovered about people. Our lives are fraught with those who disappoint us, who aren’t who they seem, who fail us, and who say one thing but mean another. We have learned to withhold our trust even from those we think we know. That reservation about people colours what we believe about God. It will colour how we read the Scripture. Is what God says to be trusted? Is He who He says He is? Can I trust Him? Is it true that “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil?” We come to this exercise of trust-building, of slowing down, of being still, of re-examining what we know about Him from His Word, with our vision clouded by the same bias that triggers our doubts.

But God is not like men. Who He is becomes foundational and forms the basis for whether or not we can trust Him and whether or not He is worthy of that trust.

There are three core attributes of God that we need to consider.

OMNIPOTENT: God is all-powerful and all-mighty

OMNISCIENT: God is all-knowing, all-wise, and all-seeing

OMNIPRESENT: God is everywhere, always

Added to these words is another theological term.

SOVEREIGN: God has absolute control, authority, right, and influence

This kind of power in anyone’s hands might inspire more fear than trust. Pagan gods were said to be powerful, yet they were also capricious and cruel. Is God like them?

However, we know that these other “gods” are not gods at all. But what about the Almighty? What about Him? Does He allay our concerns about being subject to the whims of an all-powerful, yet capricious and cruel god? When we talk about the one true and living God, we need to add one more important characteristic.

GOODNESS: God is always good

So we look at the God Who is sovereign, all-powerful, all-knowing, always present, and good.

Robert Grant (1779-1838) expressed these truths in this beautiful hymn based on Psalm 104.

1. O worship the King all glorious above,

and gratefully sing his power and his love:

our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,

pavilioned in splendour and girded with praise.

2. O tell of his might and sing of his grace,

whose robe is the light, whose canopy space;

his chariots of wrath the deep thunder-clouds form,

and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.

3. The earth, with its store of wonders untold,

Almighty, your power has founded of old;

established it fast, by a changeless decree,

and round it has cast, like a mantle, the sea.

4. Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?

It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;

it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,

and sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.

5. We children of dust are feeble and frail

-in you do we trust, for you never fail;

your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end!

our maker, defender, redeemer, and friend.

6. O measureless Might, unchangeable Love,

whom angels delight to worship above!

Your ransomed creation, with glory ablaze,

in true adoration shall sing to your praise!^[i]

The acts and attributes of God fill not only His written Word but also the natural world. The psalmist Asaph writes in Psalm 50: “The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets… Our God comes and will not be silent… He summons the heavens above, and the earth… and the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice… I am God, your God… every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine… the world is mine, and all that is in it.”

Psalm 11:4 reminds us, “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them.” He is both God and King. He not only sees but also examines each person with intent. His intentions for us will become clearer as we work through these chapters.

Paul concludes his letter to the Romans with: “…to the only wise God…” He will begin his letter to the Corinthians by discussing the difference between God’s wisdom and that of men, saying that if God were foolish, His foolishness would be wiser than the wisdom of men.

The psalmist writes that there is nowhere he can go to escape God. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there….If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me…even the darkness will not be dark to you…’”^[ii]

Jesus, responding to a question from a member of His audience, said: “No one is good—except God alone.”

From these few verses, we are forcefully reminded that we are not talking about trusting just anyone. This is the Almighty One whom the heavens and the earth obey. When He speaks, the natural world listens and responds. Everything belongs to Him, including us. He pays attention to everything and everyone that belongs to Him. We cannot escape Him.

Such power would inspire terror if placed in the hands of someone untrustworthy. We return to the writer’s words in Psalm 139 to see that God’s sovereignty is not something the writer fears. He embraces the wonderful truth that while God holds the power of life and death in His hands, God’s intentions are benevolent, not malevolent. The psalmist is never outside the loving protection and blessing of God. He writes, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain… How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!”

God’s sovereignty is a hedge of protection around His children. His absolute control, coupled with the character quality of goodness, inspires trust.

Theoretically, we believe that God is Almighty, that He is OMNIPOTENT. I say “theoretically” because as soon as we say that, several disturbing questions spring to mind. If He is all-powerful, why does He allow _______________? If He is Almighty, if He is in charge, if everything is His, then why doesn’t He fix ________________? Most of us would add a “now” to the end of this last sentence. Now is an important word to our generation. We are accustomed to the instant gratification of our desires. For us, faster is better. The urgency for a solution feels especially pressing when we are faced with a critical issue that could only get worse over time. As independent and critical thinkers, we believe we know what the Creator and Owner of the universe should be doing. We are certain about what His timeline should be. If He knows, sees, is wise, and is all-powerful and capable of handling whatever comes our way, then why does He not deliver what we know we need when we need it delivered?

Herein lies a problem. As human beings, with all the faults and failures associated with being human, we are crippled by some very human handicaps. We think we know what we really need, what to do about those needs, and when those needs should be addressed. We are creatures of the moment, focussed on the small screen of our lives. The myopia with which we view life makes it difficult for us to imagine, much less see, God’s “big picture.” Paul reminded us that in our wisest moment, we are still foolish compared to God. Our limited vision is described in verses such as Proverbs 27:1. The author writes, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” This handicap should caution us when we are tempted to demand how and when God responds to our needs.

We want to take charge. We want to tell God what to do and when to do it. But what limitations are placed on us because we can’t see beyond the moment?

I can’t tell you for certain what will happen in the next ten minutes, let alone what will happen tomorrow. I think I know, but it is still only a guess. Neither do you know with certainty what will happen in the next hours, days, months, or years.

I can’t remember where I put my glasses, let alone tell you where that elderly gentleman is who wandered away from the Seniors’ Home. Who would you trust with that man’s life? Probably not me. We might believe that God knows where this gentleman is. We express that truth in our prayers on his behalf. Those prayers express our faith in God. However, what we say about our faith and what we ask of God in our prayers is not the issue. Our struggle is with what God might do about that lost senior. I may believe that God knows where that man is. I may pray that God will help someone find him and bring him home safely. But what happens to my trust when, days later, a body is discovered in the woods far from the retirement residence? God didn’t do what I asked, even when I asked with every bit of faith I had.

Is the problem with God? Or does it rest with what I ask and the expectations I have of God? We not only lack the foresight to trust our own judgment, but that judgment is clouded by the frailties of our humanity. We often speak of the brokenness of the world in which we live. Our fractured relationship with God has produced limitations that drive us back to Him. We are broken by our sin. Like the world around us, we are waiting to be “fixed.” For the believer, that process began at the cross when we confessed that brokenness and claimed the forgiveness and healing Jesus died to provide for us. We are declared whole, free, and forgiven. Now we are being transformed, a process that will not be completed until we have finished this earthly journey. In the meantime, we live with the residual effects of a brokenness that shape our view of God and how He works in our lives.

How does Paul describe this “brokenness” in Romans 8:20-22?

Sin has affected every part of creation. The natural world has paid a price for our rebellion. “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

Most of us would not describe ourselves as “those who frustrate creation.” Just how have we, and are we, continually doing that?

Sin has broken our lives, and as a consequence of our sin, the world has been broken. Even our prayers are broken. We don’t know what to ask or how to ask. Paul writes in Romans 8:26, 27, “…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” We often ask for the wrong things for the wrong reasons. The inference in these verses is that the Spirit of God takes our misguided prayers and repurposes them according to the will of the One who knows what needs to be done.

While we might admit to getting our prayers wrong, what about the promises God has made in His Word? That brings us to verses such as Psalm 50:15: “…call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honour me.” Here, our dismay deepens. We are told to call on Him in the day of our trouble, and He will deliver us. And then He doesn’t—at least not always when or how we ask Him to.

He has made promises. We have expectations, short-sighted and clouded by our brokenness. We have been told that He always keeps His promises, yet we have doubts when His answers don’t meet those expectations!

I remember the prayers our missionary team sent up on behalf of one of the first converts who came to faith in our church plant in Venezuela. Betty was one of only three believers we had in those early days! When she received her cancer diagnosis, we engaged in serious, heartfelt prayer for God to heal her. Instead, she got worse. The cancer was terminal. We continued to pray because we believed that God could do anything. Why would He not want to heal Betty? Of course, He would. And He did—just not the way we hoped. He took Betty home. We were devastated. Why did God not respond as we had anticipated?

Certainly, our sorrow at her loss was appropriate. But now, looking back, I realize we should have been happier for Betty than we were. We should have been less sorry for ourselves. If we truly cared for her welfare and best interests, would we not rather that she be in glory with Jesus, free from cancer, from an abusive husband, and from a boss who couldn’t keep his hands to himself (among many other troubles she had in her life)? But we were sorry for ourselves, for our ministry. God didn’t respond to what we perceived to be our need and the mission assigned to us. Instead, He responded to Betty’s. Therein lies the “rub.” Our request was a good one, but our expectations of how God should answer it were flawed. He healed Betty—which was what we asked for, what was in Betty’s best interests, and what would be most honouring to Him.

What we believe about God should not depend on whether He meets our expectations. Does that sound odd? Because our asking is so often flawed and God doesn’t always give us what we ask for, we have to rest our belief and faith on something other than how God happens to respond. Over time, our experience with God does contribute to the strengthening of our faith. But there is something else that anchors what we believe about God.

This is where the Scripture comes into the picture. What promises have we been given? The verse from Psalm 50 tells us that we can call upon Him and expect to be delivered. We assume we know what form that deliverance should take. But the how and when are not part of the promise, though the result is. Will our faith rest simply on the promises or on the giver of those promises? Can we trust God to be Who He has said He will be and to do what He has said He will do?

Psalm 32:10 says: “Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.” What do we discover about God in this verse?

What conditions are attached to His “unfailing love?”

Can I believe that God is trustworthy, that His love does not fail even when my prayers are not answered the way I want them to be?

How would Paul have wrestled with this question as he faced a physical disability as described in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9: “…in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But…”?

We will return to Paul’s statement describing this thorn as “…a messenger of Satan.” For now, let’s consider Paul’s prayer. He knows why this disability has been given to him, yet he still asks God to remove it. It is a handicap that interferes with his life and ministry. We can all empathize with the apostle. None of us appreciate limitations. I’d prefer the removal of the thorn, but can I continue to believe He loves me and trust Him to do what is best for me when He doesn’t remove it? That is a question we all face sooner or later.

We have no written record of Joseph wrestling with the overwhelming downturns in his life. We hear no pleading for mercy when his brothers threw him into the cistern or sold him to the Midianites. We hear no complaint when he served as a slave in Potipher’s house or when he was falsely accused there. In prison, there seems to be no self-pity. He served faithfully and without complaint in all those situations. It is only on one occasion that we glimpse any despair or frustration he endured because of his circumstances. He is in prison with two of Pharaoh’s servants and interprets the dreams that trouble their sleep. When one of them is about to be released, Joseph appeals to him for help.

What do you hear in Joseph’s “voice” when you read Genesis 40:14? “But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.”

This is the first recorded statement he makes that expresses despair over his suffering. There may have been others. But even the most saintly of saints has moments when fear and stress overwhelm faith. The Egyptian forgets the promise he made, and Joseph languishes in prison for several more years. Can he trust a God who holds the “carrot” out in front of him—the possibility of rescue? What should he believe when that rescue is denied him, snatched away?

We’d rather not believe that a loving and powerful God would deny justice to Joseph, especially when the Scriptures say, “The Lord was with him...” Yes, he rose in the ranks during his servitude, but why did each victory end in yet another defeat? Was God only able to go so far and no farther?

If God is truly sovereign (a subject we will explore further later), then there is no denying that Ecclesiastes 7:13, 14 is indeed true. “Consider what God has done: who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be happy; but when times are hard, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.”

Lamentations 3:37, 38 confirms this: “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?”

We are reluctant to accept that even the worst we can imagine is something God brings into our lives. Nowhere is this more graphically illustrated than in the death of Jesus. Pilate assumed that, as Roman governor, he had the power of life and death in his hands. Jesus corrected him on that point: “‘Do you refuse to speak to me?’ Pilate said. ‘Don’t you realize I have the power either to free you or to crucify you?’ Jesus answered, ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.’”

What do we learn about God in these verses?

A quick reading of these passages might cause us some anxiety, but how are they an encouragement as well?

If I believe that God is trustworthy and loving, even when He sends hard times my way, I must believe there is a good reason behind what He does. The writer to the Hebrews describes this in Hebrews 12:7, calling on believers to “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children… God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who are trained by it.” As Paul writes in Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” Can I embrace even the hard times because they are designed by One who is trustworthy and loving? Can I believe that discipline is the act of a Father who has my best interests at heart? Isn’t believing that every circumstance comes from HIS hands much more reassuring than thinking that difficulties have been dumped on me “by accident,” or sent by one who isn’t trustworthy or loving, or the actions of one over whom God has no control?

We would rather blame Satan for all the ills in the world because it is so difficult to attribute hardship and suffering to a loving God. But not even Satan can do anything without God’s permission. We see this clearly in the story of Job. Satan comes to God, having searched the earth for a likely victim, someone he can drive away from his commitment to love and serve the Almighty. God volunteers Job. But He is also very specific about what Satan can and cannot do to Job. We also see this truth in Jesus’ declaration to Peter on the night the Lord was betrayed. Jesus said that Satan had asked to “sift him as wheat,” but that He, Jesus, had prayed for His faltering follower. The Lord prayed that, after Peter was restored, he would become an instrument of God’s glory to build up his brothers.

Jesus’ words to Pilate indicate that it was the Father who set in motion the death of His own Son. The One who orchestrated the death of His own Son would not hesitate to do whatever was necessary to fulfill His divine design for us.

Even the Son submitted to the very worst His Father could ask of Him to fulfill that design. In His humanity, it was not easy for Jesus to give Himself up to that divine will, especially knowing exactly what His death would be like. Matthew 26:39 reminds us of His prayer on the night He was betrayed: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Did God take pleasure in the death of His Son? Does God take pleasure in seeing us go through hard times? We say we believe God is good—and good all the time! But we struggle to believe that a good God would bring difficulty into our lives. We struggle to believe that such experiences are expressions of His love. Lamentations 3:32, 33 assures us: “Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.”

King Hezekiah had endured a period of illness. After his recovery, he recorded this confession, found in Isaiah 38:17. It expresses his understanding of an important spiritual truth: “Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish.”

We all understand the value of lifelong learning. As a result of those life experiences, we continue to grow over time. But the lessons we learned in the past about God’s trustworthiness do not always guarantee that we will apply them the next time we are tested. Like Israel, we seem prone to having to repeat the lessons over and over again. The psalmist gives us an example in Psalm 78:18-39. This was the complaint: “They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God: they said, ‘Can God really spread a table in the wilderness? True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, streams flowed abundantly, but can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat for his people?’”

Read the entire passage. What do we learn about God?

God remained trustworthy even when His people were not: “…for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance. Yet he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens; he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven…”

The last verses of the psalm remind us of the amazing mercy we enjoy despite our failure to trust God and obey Him: “Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.” Doubt leads to disobedience, and a lack of trust leads to complaint.

Faith grows in proportion to what it is fed. Romans 10:17 tells us: “…faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” This statement refers specifically to saving faith, the faith we exercise when we recognize our need for Jesus to deliver us from our sin and guilt. But faith is something we must cultivate throughout our lives. Hebrews tells us that “…without faith it is impossible to please God…” Pleasing God is the lifetime goal of every true believer. If faith initially comes through the Word, it is reasonable to assume that it is fed and watered through continual exposure to the Word.

How is faith fed by listening to, reading, meditating on, the Scriptures?

Is there a habit that needs developing when it comes to trusting God? Is it possible that as we spend more time in the Word, we begin to strengthen a faith that has so often failed us when life takes a turn for the worst? The Bible is not a magic charm or a rabbit’s foot we can rub. There is no genie in this bottle. But within us is a craving for that bread of life, like the cravings we experience for salty food or chocolate. We need His Word for us. We know we need it to satisfy the hunger of a soul that desperately needs something to hang on to that will never fail.

In God’s Word, we find the truth that calms our longing for order in a chaotic world. The Scripture provides that order because its truth rests on the unchangeable, reliable, loving God who is revealed on its pages.

We must trust where we cannot see or understand. God is under no obligation to explain what He brings into any of our lives. Trust in a sovereign and good God is a choice we continually face. It is trust, or surrender to the belief in a universe out of control. Paul, writing from the perspective of one who knew the Lord well, says: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?’” We don’t always understand His ways. But we do know something about His character.

Psalm 9:7-10 encapsulates for us both the sovereignty of God and His unfailing goodness. “The Lord reigns for ever; he has established his throne for judgment. He rules the world in righteousness and judges the people with equity. The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

What do we learn about God from these verses?

What aspect of God’s character, as described here, do you particularly need to hold on to at this moment?

(From A Question of Trust, © Lynda Schultz, 2021, ISBN: 979-8-7420-5863-2)

Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay

^[i] https://www.jubilate.co.uk/songs/o_worship_the_king_all_glorious_above

^[ii] Psalm 139:7-12