“Sometimes I have more faith in my fears coming true than in God coming through for me.”- Lysa TerKeurst
“Trust in the LORD with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”- Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
In Chapter 6 (“How Can I Trust God When I Don’t Understand What He Allows?”) of I Want to Trust You, but I Don’t, Lysa TerKeurst reveals the statement that makes her want to pull away as distrust sets in. Lysa asserts: I wouldn’t have treated them that way.
Or, Lysa admits, she’s pretty sure of that statement. However, the author cautions, these ‘I would never do that’ scripts don’t just refer to the actions of other people. Most significantly, those thoughts carry over into our thoughts about God.
Therefore, Lysa confesses, what her mind fails to understand, her heart tends to distrust. As a result, Lysa states what happens when she can’t comprehend what God’s allowing. Or, she feels confident God will do something and it doesn’t happen. Thus, doubts easily turn to distrust.
Hence, like Lysa, we want the goodness of God to:
- make life good right now.
- mean that things turn out according to our definition of okay-ness.
- work like a fair transaction: do good things and good things will happen to you.
Consequently, Lysa acknowledges:
“God is good. I know this. But when the pain and suffering get intense, I sometimes feel less and less certain that His goodness will come through for me. That’s not fun to confess. But confessing is better than continuing to do what I’ve been doing for a long time. . . .
I will have to walk a path while not seeing where it will go or knowing how long it will be. My struggle is this: Can I trust Him enough to really start surrendering the outcomes . . . the plans . . . the way my life will go?”
Today’s question: What Scriptures help calm my faith in my fears coming true? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Hollowed out by doubts”