Trusting God in All Circumstances

Have you ever found it difficult to trust God with an area in your life that seemed impossible?

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5 NASB)

Sarah's Story

In the book of Genesis, Sarah struggled to believe God’s promise for her to bear a child in her old age. Given the circumstances, I can understand why Sarah was dealing with an internal battle with what God had told her. During her earlier years, it is quite possible that she prayed for God to extend her family, but instead of getting what her heart desired, she witnessed many other women having children effortlessly. To add insult to injury, the culture she was in typically shamed women for not being able to have children on their own so it is very likely she had to deal with insensitive remarks about her struggles with conceiving.

It is not unreasonable to think that Sarah had to combat feelings of disappointment, bitterness, and jealousy with having an empty womb. All those years she might have thought her prayers had fallen on deaf ears and that God had forgotten her. And now decades later, God was showing up at a time in her life where she was old enough to not only be someone’s grandmother, but someone’s great grandmother. The timing and circumstance just seemed laughable.

Sarah’s heart still yearned for a child, but instead of believing God would do this miraculous act through her and Abraham, she yielded to her own understanding. She took matters into her own hands by giving her servant Hagar to her husband, in order to fulfill the promise. Her lack of faith led to a series of problems that caused much tension with her husband and drove her maidservant away. She started blaming everyone else instead looking within herself to get to the heart of the matter.

Sometimes we struggle with trusting God because we have our own plans, dreams, and desires and if we are honest with ourselves, we just want God to cosign them. We can become so afraid of being disappointed with God’s way of directing our lives, that we make a choice to get in the driver's seat in an attempt to find our own solutions.

Just like with Sarah, it can be easy to look at the circumstance that we are in, and instead of hanging on to God’s word and promises, we focus on what we are lacking and how impossible our situation is. God’s word says we are to trust in Him with ALL of our hearts. Not just the areas that we choose or make sense logically to us. True Lordship is surrendering our whole heart to God withholding nothing from Him because He knows and will do what is best for our lives. The wonderful thing about this story is that even in Sarah’s lack of faith, God still worked all things together for her good and she still received the promised child. Even when facing trouble that was self imposed, if we turn to God in forgiveness, he is willing and able to help you.

Let’s learn from Sarah’s mistake. No matter what we face, what seems impossible for man is possible with God (Luke 18:27, NIV). When we are led by the guidance of self, it can lead to disastrous results that not only affect us but those around us. However, when we put ourselves under divine wisdom, we will reap the benefits of it and produce in our lives an abundance of joy, peace, security, and a life better than what we could have ever imagined for ourselves.

What choice are you willing to make? Are you willing to surrender your dreams, plans, career, marriage, relationship, and children fully to the Lord? What areas are you still struggling to give to God?