Trusting God When You Are Scared
I always think I have this trust thing with the Lord figured out and am humbly surprised on a regular basis. The truth is that whatever the suffering, struggle or hardship you are having, there’s probably always a way to grow, right?
When I think I’ve “arrived” at trust, it’s not really a conscious thought or hopefully I’d have the wisdom to recognize the warning sign there. My problem is more that some sort of challenge comes up and I am surprised at my lack of trust. Because I didn’t know a lack of trust was still festering in my heart.
But that lack of trust is there sitting right next to its best friend: fear. Together, they can really wreak havoc on my mind.
So how on earth are you supposed to trust God when you are scared?
When you are a little scared?
When you are scared to the max?
When you are watching your daughter be intubated and they can’t figure out why she won’t wake up?
When medical bills stack up faster than you can even open them?
When doctors explain the most likely way that your current condition will kill you?
When it feels like the world is crumbling around you?
These are the times where my fear is exposed and my lack of trust is made known to me.
Being honest about your fear
God already knows you’re scared but He’s the loving Father that cares about you and wants to talk to you. He opens his arms and has prepared a safe place for you. With Him you can lay down and rest. With Him you can sleep in peace.
Your prayer never has to be fancy. "I am scared about this" is something a loving Father cares about. Scripture even talks about how the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness when we don’t know what to pray.
“In the same way, 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.”
Romans 8:26
We can talk to God honestly and He is able to help us.
Faith over fear is not pretending
Sometimes faith over fear is a decision. Sometimes it feels like a conscious choice to make. Sometimes it feels hard and takes effort.
Sometimes faith over fear is the natural overflow of your heart. It comes with ease and happens because of the character that has been built through your trials.
Sometimes faith over fear happens because the rocks you were standing on gave way and you’re in a free fall and trusting God is quite literally the only option that remains. Or at least it feels like that. Maybe it is still an overflow of a desperate heart.
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 46:1-7
Your Circumstances Aren’t a Sign
When you are going through something challenging — especially if your suffering is ongoing — people naturally try to figure out why.
Why is your life going the way it is?
Why are things so hard for you?
Job’s friends did the same thing to him and I think this can be a normal response to someone’s suffering. The thing is that the conclusions people draw about your hardships, trials and suffering might lack wisdom and be so completely discouraging.
Your hardships aren’t a coded sign for you (or your friends) to figure out. There’s no magic solution to getting out of it. But you can run to God and find safety in His fortress:
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalm 91:2
Forgiving people who judge your suffering
I have heard many explanations from well-intentioned people for my suffering. There are times where their explanations lack wisdom, their words play in my mind for days and I have to work on forgiving them.
It’s okay for you to acknowledge when someone’s words don’t line up with scripture and then we must do the hard thing and forgive them. When we think of them in our minds, we can’t hold what they have said and done against them.
I know how hard this can be.
It’s also important to know that anger in these situations isn’t something to just shut down. We can ackowledge our anger and be aware of what our anger is asking of us. Does it want to reciprocate that hurt? Revenge? Maybe just a creative spiteful comment?
I really want a pure heart. I want it to drive my decisions so I hate that my anger doesn’t always produce purity. But it can.
Anger can make me aware of wrongdoing against me or others. It can be a catlyst for prayer, personal growth and a reminder to live by the Holy Spirit and not by my natural instincts.
Anchor yourself in something steady
Fear shrinks when I fill my mind with something truer than the worst-case story on a loop.
"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you." (Psalm 56:3)
"Do not fear, for I am with you." (Isaiah 41:10)
"God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)
Faith over fear in daily practice
It’s okay if “faith over fear” feels a little messy and if you don’t feel like you quite have it figured out. I’m really not sure we ever arrive at a point where we are at ease in our character growth and have no ways to grow.
There will be times when your fear will feel overwhelming and your honest prayers to God aren’t what you had hoped would come out of your mouth.
His faithfulness does not run out when mine does.
He is with you always and He will not abandon you.
