I had this realization that seems really obvious, but for some reason it took me a while to get it.
I should be just as confident that things are going to work out when they look crazy as when everything looks fine and dandy. The opposite is true as well. Even though things look peaceful and calm, that is not an indication of security. Our security comes from God. It is not at all dependent on what is going on around us. Whether it is the economy, our finances, our children, our marriages, we can (and should) trust God with all of it.
Romans 8:28: And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
It just dawned on me recently after going through a faith test that it really doesn’t matter whether it is easy or difficult to trust God. As my circumstances began to “look” better, I noticed myself trusting a bit less in God and a bit more in myself. After all, my circumstances weren’t requiring as much faith. I kind of slapped myself a bit and realized that I am no less dependent on God when things are going good as I am when they are going terrible.
The good circumstances are only an illusion of security. When things look good, it is easy to understand how things will all work out. But isn’t it amazing how quickly I can go running back to God in faith when things look bad again? I quickly realize that “good circumstances” provide no true security.
The great news is that for believers, bad circumstances are only an illusion of a lack of security.
Trust God in the storm
It reminds me of Jesus sleeping on the boat during the middle of the storm. He said, “let us go to the other side.” But yet when things started looking bad enough, they started to doubt that would happen. The truth is, no matter how bad things looked, they were just as secure. They had God in the flesh on the boat with them! How could they really think that they wouldn’t make it?
Mark 4:35-41
On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
When they finally were freaking out enough, they woke Him up and frustrated with their lack of faith, He told the storm to calm down. They just didn’t get it. They didn’t realize who Jesus was. They didn’t realize that it didn’t matter how bad it got, He was there with them.
It is no different for us today. We have the promise of God that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. It doesn’t matter how bad things look, it is merely an illusion. Don’t be deceived: when your trust is in God, you could not be more secure.
Bob Lotich, CEPF® is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance and has over 15+ years experience writing about Biblical personal finance. He is the award-winning author of Simple Money, Rich Life and has been named a top 20 social influencer in personal finance. Check out his on-demand Christian financial class for couples, small groups and churches called True Financial Freedom.
