Dear Family and Friends,

If you were asked to measure on a scale from one to ten your level of trust in God, what would it be?

Trust in God was mentioned as a step towards finding both our joy and peace. Would you agree that trusting God is easier said than done?

If we’re being honest, I suspect most of us would admit that our trust in God has room to grow.

Regardless of our age, we know that trust is one of those things that’s built over time with experience. And as a friend once told me, trust takes years to build, but it takes only a day to lose.

Even the famous William Shakespeare wrote, “Don’t trust the person who has broken faith once.”

Whether we read Shakespeare or not, our personal experiences play a large part in how long it takes before we really trust someone – a standard we unfortunately apply to God.

Today we will focus on one major obstacle to trusting God. Trusting Him when He doesn’t answer our prayers. 

So how do we overcome this obstacle? 

With Patience.

Let’s begin with a bit of reassurance.

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” Psalm‬ ‭40:1‬ ESV

God hears our prayers. Picture God leaning in towards us to hear our pleas and prayers. Let there be no doubt that our God not only hears us, He cares about us. 

This leads us to our second point. When God is silent, let’s not presume there’s nothing going on up there.

For example, when all is quiet in the house I assume nothing is going on. My assumption rests on one particular trait of men. When we men are silent, it’s usually because there is literally nothing going on inside our heads.

On the other hand, when the kids were young and the house was quiet, Aileen would jump to her feet to check up on them. Her intuition that the kids were up to something was pretty much always right.

It’s hard for me to fathom but according to Aileen, there’s always something going on inside a woman’s head.

The same holds true for God who neither slumbers nor sleeps. (See ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭121:4‬)

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” 1 John‬ ‭5:14-15 NIV

The phrase – according to His will – underscores our need to be patient. We don’t always know nor understand God’s will, the reason why He may not be answering our prayers how and when we want.

Perhaps He is giving us time:

  • to strengthen our faith,
  • to realize just how much we need Him,
  • to focus on the Creator, and not His creations;
  • to acknowledge the Giver, and not His gifts,
  • to build our character to be more like His Son,
  • to teach us to be more patient, or
  • to accept His will, and align our will to His.

Look carefully at these reasons and you will see a good good Father who wants only the best for us as it says in Matthew‬ ‭7:11 NIV. 

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” ‭‭

You may be asking, so what can we do while we patiently wait?

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” ‭‭ 1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5:16-18‬ ESV

Rejoice always. Let’s not allow our circumstances to steal our joy and peace. 

Pray without ceasing. Ask God to reveal His will for our lives. Ask if we have wandered off course and need to repent, to turn around. Pray that He not only restores us but refines us as well. And when we’re done, do it again and again. 

Give thanks in all circumstances. Let’s have a heart of gratefulness, being patient always as we put our trust in God.

And as we pass through those bad times… let’s walk in confidence that one day all will indeed be good.

In love always,