God is still God in the bad times

Trust the Lord always, in all things through all things. This is what God's word says.

Do we?

Can we?

What about when things go wrong? When loved ones we pray for die?
When our health fails?
When our marriages fall apart?
When our children rebel and live their lives as prodigals?
When we lose everything, can we still say we trust God?

This is an area I think we never stop learning in, for me I would like to say 100 percent of the time I trust God, but I would be lying. If I trusted Him all the time, if you trusted Him all the time, we would never worry!

Through good times for me it seemed harder to trust God, looking back it was because I wasn't doing what I was supposed to do, I knew what God asked of me and didn't do it, it was my disobedience and the consequences I knew I would face, I was leaning on my own understanding, walking in my ways.

But what about when things go bad when God doesn't answer the prayer the way we think He should, when things unjustly happen, do we trust God?

So many come to a crisis of faith and this is where they get out, they no longer want to talk to God, to others who walk with God, they become bitter, angry and disassociate from God and His people.

It is sad, for them and for others, but God is still over the situation, their lives and is working on their souls.

We have this concept that once we become saved from eternal damnation that we will be safe from the things of this world, the people of the world, the fallen dying, demonic perversions of the world, and this is just not true

None of us are immune from sickness, death, poverty, failures, hurt or pain, and Jesus tells us we won't be, upfront.

When we read the scriptures we plainly see that God did not sugarcoat them, He spoke openly about tragedy, failures, life, and death so we would not be lead astray by false teachers.

Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery accused of a crime he didn’t commit, jailed and then became second in command over all of Egypt.

Then there is Daniel in the Lions Den, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were thrown into the fiery furnace, and lived.

David lost 70,000 men because he didn’t trust God, one of his sons tried to overthrow him, another raped his daughter and another died at birth.

Yet through this all they learned to trust God!

This is what I have learned and still learn to apply every day when I focus on the Lord, that is take my eyes off of me and what is going on around me, I trust Him!

Why?

He is my focus, not me, His strength, not mine, His power not mine, His endurance not mine, His way not mine, His goodness, His righteousness, His grace and mercy, every time He has provided, protected, lead me through the valleys, my life becomes about Him and I know I am okay.

God has been with us through the loss of loved ones, our children’s health scares, through financial loss, material loss, through the loss of our own health, He has carried us, comforted us, and He has held us as only He can.

God has never failed me!

God has never failed anyone!

God alone is faithful!

What has happened to all of us is our own understanding of God has failed, the god we have made in our minds, you know the one who does what we want, when we want it, the god of our making, that is who failed and it points back to us.

Learning to trust the Lord becomes easier when we surrender to Him when we acknowledge Him in all our ways, we will trust Him with all our lives, we will follow Him always and we will trust Him through the good and the bad in our lives, knowing He is with us always.

God's word says this:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones. Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest; then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine. Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline; for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.” Proverbs‬ ‭3:5-12‬ ‭CSB‬‬

“In the same way, Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest, but God who said to him, You are my Son; today I have become your Father, also says in another place, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, and he was declared by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”Hebrews‬ ‭5:5-10‬ ‭CSB‬‬

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith — more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire — may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing Him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated. They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified in advance to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven — angels long to catch a glimpse of these things. Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers. For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you. Through him, you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly, because you have been born again — not of perishable seed but of imperishable — through the living and enduring word of God. For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you.”1 Peter‬ ‭1:3-25‬ CSB