In October, 2007 I was sitting in my living room when an intruder broke through my porch door. Instead of confronting him I grabbed my purse and escaped out the garage. In my haste I noticed that left my cell phone behind. So, I quickly drove to a neighbor’s house to call 911. I stood my neighbor’s driveway on the phone with 911 and helplessly watched as the intruders (there were three of them) defiantly smirked at me as they drove past me in a large beat up white work van. A swarm of deputies arrived within ten minutes. Guns drawn, they secured my home ensuring they were gone. And gone they were. But not without taking every portable electronic device. It was a loss of many thousands of dollars.
That night, I laid in bed with my then, ten year old daughter. The break-in shook her to the core and she was afraid to be alone, so I stayed by her side all night. As we lay there she began to cry as she asked, “Mommy, why did God let this happen to us? God knows we couldn’t afford this right now.” (At the time, our family had just begun to experience some financial setbacks). She was right about two things. 1) God did know; and 2) We really couldn’t afford to have this happen to us.
I was careful to not give her some pat answer or cliche’ because honestly, I was struggling to come to terms with what happened as well. As I processed through her question I shared an honest, heartfelt answer with her.
I said, “Honey, I don’t know why this happened, but I do know that no matter what, we will still trust God.”
That was my stance then.
It is my stance today.
Psalm 31 says “My times are in Your hands. Still I will trust You.”
When God seems silent or distant. It's easy to struggle with trust.
When His timing is far from our timing. It's easy to struggle with trust.
But the reality is, the more you know Him the more you can trust Him. Just as it is with relationships. You typically don’t give your wholehearted trust to someone you just met. Your trust for that person grows the more you get to know that person. Your trust grows as you learn how much that person loves and cares for you.
It’s the same with our Heavenly Father. Once you grasp how much He loves you and how His heart for you truly is to prosper you and not to harm you, you will be able to trust Him wholeheartedly, and ultimately, you will be able to say, “No matter what, still I will trust Him.”