Trusting God in Tough Circumstances by Steve Douglass
It is always a privilege to invite my husband to share his wisdom on my blog. A long time of walking with God through many challenges has given him good, practical insights.
Photo by Max LaRochelle on Unsplash
We are now several months into the Covid-19 crisis. Here in Florida we locked down for awhile, but have been trying to open up. Unfortunately the numbers of cases here are rising dramatically.
Judy and I are working from home, as are most of our friends and colleagues. Recently I was talking with one of those co-workers, who said many of his friends are fatigued and stressed. The end of the crisis is not in sight and that makes it hard to hold on to hope.
Perhaps you can identify. So what can you do? I have asked that question, and God has reminded me what has strengthened me time after time. These three things about God really help me cope as I remember them:
God is all-powerful
Luke 1:37 (NIV) tells us that “nothing is impossible with God.” In Job 38, in God’s response to Job, we find an overwhelming list of examples of His great power — e.g., “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” (v.4a) and “Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?” (v.35).
Along those lines, I heard a story a while ago where a “JESUS” film team prayed that God would stop a rainstorm that was advancing toward an outdoor showing. God stopped the storm a very short distance from the showing and within the view of those watching the film.
God is all-knowing
Psalm 139 is one of the classic biblical passages on how intricately God knows the details of people’s lives. “Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O Lord” (v. 4). We can’t hide anything from God, and He doesn’t fall asleep or forget about us.
God is always loving
One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 136. Why? Because 26 times it repeats the refrain, “His love endures forever.” John 3:16 says that God sent Jesus to die for our sins because He “so loved the world.”
I will never be able to thank God enough for forgiving my sins. And I am very grateful for His many provisions. For example, during this time of being “sheltered” at home with Judy, I am freshly reminded about how gracious and generous He has been to let me be married to her for 45 years.
Remembering these facts about God should lead us to:
Trust Him
God alone is worthy of our total trust. He can and will implement His perfect will for our lives if we just trust Him. In recent months I and others in leadership in our ministry have had to face some significant challenges, such as seeking to keep our staff safe and praying for our finances to stay strong.
On several occasions I have sensed God saying to me, “Steve, I’ve got this. Trust Me.” Notice that He was pointing out that the all-powerful God of the universe was handling this. I just needed to put my trust in Him.
As we ask God for protection, provision, restoration, etc., we must trust He will work His perfect will. It may well involve our ongoing prayer and action, but we need to come to the point where we really put our complete trust in Him.
Walk with Him
Trust grows in proportion to relationship. If we don’t talk to Him much, He can seem a bit intangible and distant. But if we do talk to Him as often as possible, we will be “walking” with Him.
In my daily life, as I engage in various interactions, thoughts, problems, etc., I try to pray specifically about them. And, as I am praying about those things, it really does seem like the peace of God that transcends all understanding guards my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6,7). I especially need that peace in the middle of the current circumstances.
Cast our cares on Him
That is what I Peter 5:7 invites us to do. Truly putting our trust in God and not ourselves means we should “cast our cares on Him” (KJV) versus retain them ourselves.
About two months ago I had a memorable opportunity to do that. I had a second surgery on my scalp to be sure all of the melanoma skin cancer there had been removed. It took a week for the lab report to come back to indicate there was no more cancer. Casting that care on the Lord as I waited gave me peace.
Challenging circumstances can generate all sorts of “cares.” When those cares arise, we need to remember God can be trusted. We can give him those cares..
So as you face the difficult situations buffeting you and those you love, remember that God is all-powerful, all-knowing and always loving. You can know He alone can be completely trusted, so you cast your cares on Him.
What about you? What has helped you trust God in challenging times?
Steve Douglass is certainly my favorite person. I find him smart, funny, humble, godly, creative, hardworking, kind. He is so good at living, loving, leading, fixing, solving and serving. He’s a wonderful husband, father and granddad. And he lives out what he just wrote about. Oh yes, he went to MIT, HBS and leads Cru globally.