If you are lost in our city, it's totally okay to stop and ask someone for directions. But don't follow those directions too long before stopping and asking someone else. They might give similar instructions, or they could send you the opposite way completely, so you don't want to follow those directions for too long either before you stop to ask someone else. Eventually, you will get where you want to go, but you never know which person you can trust to give you the correct path to take. You just keep asking and trying until you reach your destination.
If you haven't yet mastered the cultural and social clues in this situation, it can certainly feel like no one can ever be trusted. And God, in all His mystery and glory, can sometimes feel just as confusing. Sometimes the messages from Him can feel just as mixed.
But God can be trusted, because what He says is true (Numbers 23:19). When He says He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), we can trust that those words are true. When He says He is working in all things for our good (Romans 8:28), also true. When God says He loves us (John 3:16), He has proven that to be true.
Sometimes though, it feels like the path God is leading us down is wandering. His voice might not feel clear, or maybe it's clear but the path ahead doesn't look right. When the road is dark, scary, stressful or painful, it's not hard to start to wonder if we can actually trust Him to lead the way through.
One of my professors once said “never question in the dark what you knew to be true in the light,” and it has always stuck with me. We can trust that He is near, even when we feel alone; we can trust His ways are good, even when they bring persecution; we can trust His love for us, even when we're feeling beaten down with sin… because He said so.
We can trust God, because His words are true.
What is a truth from God's Word that you hold firm to when you might be struggling to understand what He is doing in your life?
Psalm 37 is a chapter in the Bible I often find myself going back to. It has so many promises and truths to hold onto when life doesn't seem to be going the way I hoped or expected.