Trusting God when you dont understand

Intro

start by sharing about myself

grew up non christian home, dad prison, mom drugs alcohol, prostitution

at age 13 started riding bus to church

small baptist church

accepted Christ in Sunday school

at such a young age I experienced such earth shattering abuse

from my parents and from wolfs in the church

because of these trials , I needed to learn what it means to really trust God

Trusted God to get me out of abuse- mom Shirley

God has restored so much in my life, Husband , Home, Bradley.

Fool- the hardest days of my life were over

In this world we will have many troubles

Ava

Id like to share with you through my deepest possible pain in losing my baby How to trust God even when you dont understand.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.

I know it sounds cliche and can even make you angry when people tell you to trust Jesus in your most devastating circumstance. I know it made me angry. My pain was real and gut wrenching and Trust Jesus was not comforting and didn't takeaway the pain.

It was the last thing I wanted to hear

But how vital is really is to trust Jesus in EVERY circumstance.

Trusting God with all your heart is trusting him when:

You loose a baby

You lose an adult child

when your marriage fails

When you've been abused

when your still single and everyone around you is married

when a friend or family member betrays you

when you loose your home in a hurricane

when you receive a health diagnosis

when you struggle with infertility.

whatever it is to truly trust him.

If we lean on our own understanding we wont trust Gdd cause our understanding wouldn't make sense for what happend.

Bible says our thoughts are not his thoughts neither are his ways our ways.

This verse Proverbs 3:5-6 sums up the Bible’s teaching on trust. First, it is the Lord in whom we are to trust, not ourselves or our plans, and certainly not the world’s wisdom and devices

like the old hymn: Simply trusting every day, trusting through a stormy way, even when my faith is small , trusting Jesus that is all.

Right now I want to challenge you to think of the situation that you arnt fully trusting God in.

1. In order to trust Jesus we first must know who He is.

We get to know Jesus through His word. Its revealed from Genesis to Revelation.

He reveals his character to us.

Knowing Gods character develops our trust in Him

Roman 3:4 Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.

1John 4:8 “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

Exodus 34:6 “And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,”

God is Omniscience- all knowing

God is Omnipotence all powerful

God is Omnipresence -everywhere

Psalm 103:8 “The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.”

Deuteronomy 7:9 ““Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;”

When we read about How God provided for the Israelites we see that we can trust God to provide for us too.

When we read about Gods sovereignty through the story of Job, we grow to Trust Gods sovereignty in our lives as well.

Psalm 9:10 “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.”

The word “trust” in Psalm 9:10 comes from the Hebrew word “batach” which signifies a bold confidence or security in the Lord.

Trust is not exactly the same as faith, Rather, trusting is what we do because of the faith we have been given.

Trusting is believing in the promises of God in all circumstances, even in those where the evidence seems to be to the contrary.

Im a mother its not my nature to say Thank you Jesus for taking my daughter.

Thats not in me. SO we have to trust and believe in the promises of God even in the circumstances where the evidence seems to be contrary.

When we know His character, our trust will remain steadfast in Him.

2. What does it mean to Trust God

To trust is to believe in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of something.

So when it comes to trusting God, that means believing in His reliability, His word, His ability and His strength.

The Bible says that God cannot lie.

That He always keeps his promises

That He loves you and has good in store for you.

Trusting in Him means believing what He says about Himself, and about the world and about you is true.

Because of God’s nature, we are to trust Him with all our hearts, committing every aspect of our lives to Him in complete confidence.

I want to make it clear that trusting God is more then a feeling. It is a choice to have faith in what he says even when your feelings or circumstances would have you believe something different.

Your feelings about your circumstances matter and are very much important to God. Its Ok to be angry, to have questions but its not OK to stay there.

Dont let your feelings dictate who God is.

Example: Ava healing … my health. praying for others for healing.. angry bitterness didnt want to pray.

Believed the lie that nothing good will ever come from God since I lost Ava - Greatest joy and deepest sorrow

But these feelings are not reliable enough to base your life on. They can change at any moment, even in a instant.

God on the other hand does not change. He is the same yesterday , today and tomorrow and therefore is worthy of our trust.

Trusting God is not ignoring your feelings or reality. It is not pretending everything is ok when it isnt.

Trusting God is living a life of belief in obedience to God even when its difficult.

I had been focusing on the “whys”

why did we get a death sentence for our daughter

But no answer would satisfy and be good enough or take away my pain.

How to Trust God

we are not to trust in ourselves because our understanding is temporal, finite, and tainted by our sin natures. Trusting in ourselves is like walking confidently across a rotten wooden bridge over a yawning chasm thousands of feet deep. Disaster inevitably follows.

If we can trust God with our salvation we can trust God with our every day life.

How exactly can we do that in our every day life?

Well If you trust someone, you feel comfortable being honest with them about anything. God is much more reliable than even your most trustworthy friend. Hes actually the only one who truly understands what we are going through.

1Peter 5:7 “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

Psalm 56:8 “You keep track of all my sorrows. ; You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

Because God loves you, you can show you trust in Him by talking about all your feelings and circumstances with him- the good, and all the hard through prayer.

Dont let your emotions rule your life. Bring them to God so he can help you address them.

Romans 8:28 for all things work together for good.

You may be thinking about your hard situation and think how how is this good? and how will it turn out good?

We have a misconception of what good is.

My good is having my daughter.

But Im not god. God promises good for us, but it may not be the good that we think.

that is where the trust comes in

Even when I dont understand

Even when my hopes and dreams have been shattered

We want to take Romans 8:28 and put it into our context and our understanding of good.

IF we truly want out lives to glorify God then we have to look at things the way that God looks at them.

We cant continue to look at things the way we want too and then put it in our context because thats not what he means.

The author always uses his own context.

We think this would be good for me......

same idea as a parent and a child. The child wants candy befroe dinner

The child loves candy. Th child thinks candys good.

And it not even that the parent doesnt want the child to have a piece of candy.

The parent knows the candy is not whats going to sustain that child.

Thats not what is going to nourish that child and help the child grow.

The parents knows that the child needs fruits and vegetables.

Which is not always fun to eat, we dont always like our vegetables.

They arent nearly as tastey as a piece of candy.

The vegetables, fruit and meat is whats going to help us grow.

We have to remind oursleves the things in life that are going to nourish us and help us grow and sustain us for along time are the things that may not be as appealing to us.

We have to remeber that its a balance and the things that we really really want or like maybe God will still bless us with

but it might be after dinner. You know?

After dinner may not be till heaven.

WE have to trust he is giving us what we need and is doing what is best for us.

He is not disappointed or frustrated by your struggles , doubts or pain. He cares about us and we can trust him with those things.

Secondly when we trust God we go to His word.

We also act on obedience ( doing what GOd says in his word) and trust that He will ultimately take care of the rest.

Mark 14:34-36 “Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.” He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.””

Jesus himself felt overwhelmed by what was before him, and He went straight to His father.

He cares for your hurts. He pays attention. How comforting it is to know that the God of the universe is also paying attention to you.

Knowing that God is for you will strengthen your trust in Him during time of hardship and the unkown.

Seek Truth in Scripture

Gods word is unchanging and completely trust worthy

The Bible records ways God has responded in difficult times in the past.

The truth in scripture frees you from the unrealistic scenarios that you run to in worry.

If you dont run to the Word to remind you of truth in difficult times, it is so much easier for you to be led into lies about your life and who God is.

Example: sin in my life, or lack of faith, God blessing others and not me. guilt of another dr, Lie that im im in control .

We need a strong foundation of Scripture to stand on, especially when we feel uncertain.

Thou wilt keep in perefect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee.

Trusting God is not a one time decision and it applies to every area of your life.

Its a daily decision of denying yourself

Renewing your mind

picking up your cross and following Him

resist the devil- He is real and wants you to focus on the pain and to believe that God is not good

Share your concerns with your community ( Wise Counsel)

Know that you are not walking these difficult times alone. The Lord is walking with you every step of the way.

He also gives you other believers to walk with

2 Corinthians 1:4-6 “who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Example: Michelle “ The pain you are feeling today will not always be the way you feel”.

Mike Baranski “ Just a temporary separation” Ill have more time with Ava in Heaven then I ever would on earth.

I had been focusing on the “whys”

why did we get a death sentence for our daughter

My counselor if we focus on the Whys, we may never get answers

Wont allow my soul to heal

If my soul isnt healing Im not receiving Gods comfort.

God places people in your life to speak to you and encourage you in those darkest moments.

Encouragement:

When you are going through something that is so hard to trust God in know that

Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

Deuteronomy 31:8 “And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.””

2 Corinthians 12:8 My Grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness

I want to encourage you to build your house on the rock not on the sand.

Trust Jesus when your plans dont go as planned

example- my life all planned out.

Im not in control.

Gods unchanging character can give us a firm foundation when things feel unsteady and uncertain.

God has a plan and a purpose for your pain

example: Pastor Frank reconciled

A Bible study started to pray

I was reminded of a conference I went too ( bring on the cancer)

She had a intimacy that I was jealous of.

I wanted to know Jesus like that.

2 years later the hardest thing Ive faced is losing my daughter.

We want the intimacy with Jesus but run when things get hard.

I stand before you today this morning not having it all figured out.

Im preaching this message to myself

Learning to trust God even by the very minute because my pain is so deep.

Hes still working on me to make me what I ought to be

Just heard a quote what if God is more concerned with your sanctification then your comfort.

wow hard pill to swallow.

Allow GOd to use you.

Allow your devastating circumstance be a light to those around you.

Will you pray for me? My neighbor doesnt serve Jesus cause she lost her granduaghter.

Will you pray that I will be obedient to God to trust him and walk out in it

SO that my neighbor can come to Jesus?

What about you today?

What are you having a hard time surrendering?

Will you surrender your heart , your ways , and Trust Jesus even when you dont understand?

Maybe your here and you want to trust Jesus as your Savior.

You can today. Faith and trust in Him

Lets pray