How to Trust God When It Is Hard: 5 Biblical Steps for Anxious Times
I know the exhaustion of trying to hold it all together when your world is falling apart. You may feel like you have wandered into a far country, far from the comfort of home and the assurance of God's presence. It is in these moments of isolation, when the darkness seems to close in and the heavens feel like brass, that the question of how to trust God when it is hard becomes a cry from the depths of your soul. This is not a academic exercise; it is a matter of spiritual survival.
The trial of your faith is a reality that every born-again believer must face. The Apostle Peter reminds us of this fiery reality in his first epistle:
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:— 1 Peter 1:7, KJV
When the fire is hot, trust is not about conjuring up positive emotions or relying on a superficial, legalistic religion. True, saving faith is anchored in a living, breathing relationship with Jesus Christ. When the path ahead is obscured by tears and anxiety, we must look to the unchanging truth of the Holy Scriptures to guide our steps back to the Father's embrace.
The Weight of the Far Country: Understanding Our Spiritual Isolation
The prodigal son found himself in a place where no one gave unto him, feeding on the husks meant for swine. This "far country" is more than a geographical location; it is a state of the heart. It is that dry, barren wilderness where we feel utterly cut off from the fellowship of the Father and the joy of our salvation. Yet, even in that famine, when his resources were spent and his pride was broken, he remembered who he was.
He did not find his way back by his own strength, nor by devising a complex theological system to earn his way back into favor. He was restored by the memory of his Father's mercy. Your pain is real, and the consequences of a fallen world are heavy, but this valley is not the end of your story. The Father's grace is greater than the depth of your trial.
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.— Luke 15:20, KJV
Notice the beautiful, relational theology of this passage. The son had prepared a speech of self-abasement, hoping to be treated as a hired servant. He was thinking in terms of religion—of earning, working, and paying back his debt. But the Father responded with relationship.
Before the son could even finish his rehearsed confession, the Father fell on his neck and kissed him. This is the heart of our God. When you are struggling to trust Him, remember that He is not waiting for you to become perfect before He draws near; He runs to meet you in your brokenness.
Step 1: Remember the Father’s Character in the Famine
When circumstances are hard, our adversary, the devil, seeks to distort our view of God's character. He whispers lies that God has forgotten you, that He is angry with you, or that He is indifferent to your suffering. To combat these lies, we must actively remember who our Father is, as revealed in His Holy Word.
In Luke 15:17, we read that the prodigal "came to himself" when he remembered that even his father's hired servants had bread enough and to spare. He remembered the goodness and abundance of his father's house. When you are in a spiritual famine, you must preach the truth of God's character to your own soul.
You must remind yourself that He is good, that He is sovereign, and that His mercy endureth forever. Trust begins when we stop looking at God through the lens of our circumstances, and start looking at our circumstances through the lens of His character.
Step 2: Cast Your Care Upon Him in the Valley of Weeping
Trusting God does not mean denying the reality of your tears. We do not serve a stoic, unfeeling deity who demands that we put on a brave face. Jesus Himself wept at the grave of Lazarus, and He declared that those who weep now shall laugh, offering a future hope that anchors the present storm.
Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.— Luke 6:21, KJV
The Lord invites us to bring our raw, unedited grief to Him. We see this modeled throughout the Psalms, where David poured out his complaints before the Lord. The key is where we take our anxiety. Instead of carrying the heavy burden of your worries, you are commanded to cast them upon the Lord.
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.— 1 Peter 5:7, KJV
The Greek word for "casting" implies a decisive action—throwing the weight of your anxieties entirely onto the shoulders of One who is strong enough to bear them. You do not have to carry the weight of tomorrow's uncertainties today. Release them into the hands of your Savior, knowing that His care for you is personal, intimate, and constant.
Step 3: Lean Not Unto Thine Own Understanding
One of the greatest obstacles to trusting God in difficult times is our desire to understand the "why" behind our suffering. We want to make sense of the tragedy, the sickness, or the financial ruin. But God's ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.— Proverbs 3:5-6, KJV
To "lean" means to support oneself, as on a staff or a crutch. When we lean on our own understanding, we are relying on a fragile, human instrument that will inevitably break under the weight of life's trials. Trusting God with "all thine heart" means relinquishing the demand for explanations. It means being content with knowing *Who* holds the future, even when we do not know *what* the future holds. When you cannot trace His hand, you must trust His heart.
Step 4: Rest in the Sufficiency of His Grace
When the Apostle Paul pleaded with the Lord three times to remove his "thorn in the flesh," the response he received was not a deliverance from the trial, but a promise of sustaining grace. This is a vital truth for the anxious believer: God's deliverance is often not the removal of the storm, but the provision of His presence within it.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.— 2 Corinthians 12:9, KJV
When you feel weak, exhausted, and unable to take another step, remember that Christ’s power is made perfect in your weakness. His grace is not a static doctrine; it is the active, enabling power of the Holy Spirit working within the born-again believer. You do not have to find the strength within yourself to endure; you must simply yield to the sufficiency of His grace, allowing His strength to carry you through the trial.
Step 5: Anchor Your Soul in His Unchanging Word
Our emotions are like the shifting tides of the sea—unstable, unpredictable, and easily influenced by our physical and mental state. If your trust is based on how you feel on any given day, your faith will be constantly tossed to and fro. We need an anchor that is external to ourselves, one that is fixed in the eternal reality of God's Word.
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;— Hebrews 6:19, KJV
This hope is not a wishful thinking, but a concrete assurance based on the immutable counsel of God. When the winds of anxiety howl, anchor your mind in the promises of Scripture. Read them, memorize them, and speak them aloud. When you declare the truth of God's Word over your situation, you are aligning your mind with eternal reality rather than temporal circumstances.
Practical Application: From the Far Country to the Father's Table
How do we practically live out these steps when the anxiety is overwhelming? Here are four daily disciplines to help you walk by faith and not by sight:
- Daily Immersion in the KJV Scriptures: Do not rely on devotional snippets. Open your Bible and feed on the deep truths of God's Word. Let the Psalms wash over your anxious mind, and find comfort in the promises of the Epistles.
- Honest, Unvarnished Prayer: Go to your closet and speak plainly to the Lord. Tell Him about your fears, your doubts, and your pain. He already knows your heart, but He desires for you to commune with Him in absolute honesty.
- Relinquish Control: Identify the things you are trying to control but cannot. In a conscious act of prayer, hand those situations over to the Lord, saying, "Father, I cannot fix this, but I trust You with it."
- Fellowship with the Saints: Do not isolate yourself in the far country. Seek out the fellowship of other born-again believers who can pray with you, bear your burdens, and remind you of the truth when you are weak.
You are not alone in this valley. The same Father who ran to embrace the prodigal is running toward you right now. Let go of your shame, release your fear, and rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ. He is waiting to restore what was lost, to bind up your broken heart, and to fill your hunger with His perfect, unconditional love.
In Christ's Abundant Grace,
Grace — Faith Companion