Joyce Meyer - Should I Trust God When Bad Things Happen? (08/19/2019)
Trusting God when everything shakes and you don't understand is harder than trusting for something—yet it's essential. When life feels unfair or confusing, the answer is simple: trust in the Lord and do good (Psalm 37:3). Wait on Him to renew strength (Isaiah 40:31), refuse to figure it out, embrace "later on" understanding, and know God works all for good as we partner with Him through faith and obedience.
Trusting Through the Unknown
Tonight, I want to talk about trusting God when you don't understand. It's one thing to trust God for something. This room is full of people tonight and lots of people watching by TV that you're trusting God for something. You're asking God to change something in your life, to give you something, or to make something go away that's unpleasant. You're trusting God to change somebody else in your life.
It's one thing to trust God to give you something or to do something. It's another thing entirely to trust God through something or to continue trusting God when He's not giving you what you want, when everything around you is shaking and you just do not understand what is going on. I would imagine that we have people here tonight, and lots of them, that you feel like literally everything in your life is shaking right now. Got anybody? All right.
Now, see, for some of you, it's just a thing here or there. But some of you, I mean, it's like, what is going on? And you just don't understand. But I can tell you from many years of experience, and the only way you really learn how to trust God is through experience, by the way. We all start out wanting to trust God, and the only way we learn how to trust God is by having a reason to have to trust God.
And then as we do trust Him, we see His faithfulness, and then little by little, as we journey with God, and our walk with Him is a journey, as we journey with God, we gain experience. Now, the way you trust God now, if you've been born again for five years, is nothing compared to the way you'll trust God another five years go by, or another 10 years go by, or another 20 years go by. And we will never 100% completely trust until Jesus comes back to get us. But thankfully, we can continue to grow.
Trust in God is a decision. And I want to encourage those of you tonight that feel like everything in your life is shaking, that your only real answer is to trust God, and to keep on trusting God, and to keep on trusting God. And yes, it's difficult when you don't understand what's going on, and it's especially difficult when what's going on in your life just does not seem fair.
Embracing "Later On" Understanding
Things that you're going through right now that you do not understand, and you cannot make any sense out of it all, later on, I promise you, later on, you will look back and say, now I get it. Now I get it. Amen? And please believe me when I say that a lot of the things that you think are terrible, actually in reality, are good. I didn't think I'd get much of a clap on that. And the things that aren't good, God can work for good.
But now listen, we're partners with God. He doesn't just work everything out for good. We trust Him and He works everything out for good. We trust God and He works everything out for good. You know, we're so afraid of pain. But a lot of times, pain makes things better. It does. Sometimes you can have eternal pain that's getting you nowhere, but if you have the right kind of pain or if you embrace the right kind of pain for a short period of time, it will bring you into a much better place.
I can use the example of the knee replacements. I mean, the... Gosh, I hope I don't have to have a knee replaced. The hip replacement surgery that I had. I put up with back pain for 20 plus years. Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain. How many of you have had pain long enough in your life? And I'm not just talking physical pain. I'm talking emotional pain or any other kind of pain.
Is anybody tired of being upset all the time? Tired of being mad at people because you choose bad friends that you won't let go of and then you don't understand? Why not just pray, God, get every person out of my life that is not good for me. And even if I'm lonely for a long time, give me people in my life that are right godly people I can count on and trust.
Well, I'll tell you what, if I can get you to pray some specific ways, we can get some of God's business done in this place tonight. Not just, oh, God bless me. Bless me, Lord. Now, how about send your fire? Shake everything in my life that can be shaken. And it may not be pleasant for a while, but honey, later on, later on is such an anointed time in our lives.
You see, now I'm living in later on. But it wasn't easy to get here. It was worth it. I finally got fed up with going around and around the same stupid mountain. It was over and over and over. Oh, God, I don't understand what's wrong about it. Oh, God. I hope somebody in the building is at that place tonight and my message can do you some kind of good.
Could we at least pray, God, you do what you want to do in my life. I have a little prayer that I pray. God, if you have to, tie me to the altar. That's why, if you have to, tie me to the altar and don't let me get away, but do what you want to do in my life.
Renewed Strength While Waiting
Isaiah 40:29 through 31 are wonderful scriptures that we should take a look at right now. You know them. He gives power to the faint and the weary. And to him who has no might he increases strength causing it to multiply and making it abound. Even young people shall faint and be weary and selected young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted.
But they that wait upon the Lord... See, I knew you'd like that. But they that wait upon the Lord who expect, look for, and hope in Him shall change and renew their strength through the strength of God you can rise up and rebuild. You can run and not be weary. You can walk and you shall not faint.
Well, what do you do when things are happening in your life and you just don't understand? Psalm 37:3 Trust in the Lord and do good. Trust, lean on, rely on and be confident in the Lord and do good. Very simple. It's a two-step plan to success when everything in your life is falling apart. Trust God and do good.
Now, whatever ails us, God's Word is medicine for our soul. And, you know, like for example, if I sin and I'm miserable with guilt because I've sinned, I can take a good dose of God forgives me. I can take a good dose of the mercy of God and be healed and be healed in my soul.
If I'm mad at somebody else because they've hurt me, I can take a good dose if I forgive you, I would have had a lot of hands go up. But see, here's the truth. You can't be confused if you refuse to try to figure it out. I can tell you right now, Dave is a guy that does not try to figure anything out. He's just like, God knows and he'll take care of it. I'm casting my care.
And I've gotten there. It's taken me 40 years, but I've... I have a breakdown every once in a while, but I'm... I'm doing good. You know, in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the Bible says that we know in part. We know in part. We don't know everything. We're not intended to know everything. It wouldn't even be good for us if we knew everything.
Do you know, if you knew right now everything coming up in your future, hmm, most of us would just sign off and say forget it. Or even if you knew how God intends to use you or bless you in the future, you might get full of pride and that would ruin it. So God only reveals things to us a little bit of time as He knows it's right.
And there is no such thing, there's no need for trust if we know everything. Do you know that God really couldn't even be your God if you knew everything that He knows? We need to get satisfied to know the one who knows and not have to know everything.
Refusing to Figure It Out
Can some of you take a step of faith tonight and say, I don't understand what's going on in my life but I am not going to try to figure it out anymore. I am going to trust God and I am going to do good.