Trust

Why do bad things happen to good people? 

In truth, I don’t know.

I don’t know why some people have happy marriages and others don’t; why some people are financially stable and others don’t know when next they will have food on their plate- I don’t know why there are starving children or people with cancer. What I do know is how unfair it seems. Why did I have to lose my parents at such a young age? Why did I have to be so far away from my surviving brother? Why did I have to struggle with my body image? These are personal, but there are things we all have where we think “Why me?!”

Well, why not you?

One thing God has been teaching me on a daily basis is trust. Trust is to believe in the reliability of something. Trust is not easy, especially when it’s for Someone we can’t even physically see! I don’t know how you feel, but I actually like that bit of challenge God gives us in expecting us to trust in Him… Life would be so easy if we didn’t have to trust or wait, but it would also be so boring and predictable.

For some reason I was really lead to start reading Exodus before the holiday. I won’t lie, my Bible reading got very short in the holiday, and I’m not proud of that, so I haven’t finished yet, but I feel that I was lead to read it during a very specific time. My trust in God was starting to waver a bit… I mean was He really going to come through, or did He forget about little old me? 

But then I started looking at Moses- as in really looking.

Here’s this guy who was a part of the royal Egyptian family (not by blood, as he was originally Hebrew), does something bad in righteous anger and is forced to leave Egypt, meets God in a burning bush where he is then told to go back to the land where his punishment awaits, and tell his people (the Hebrews) to leave Egypt and go to a land that was promised, but not yet seen. Does God have high expectations or what?!
Not only does he have to do all of this, but he is expected to warn the pharaoh of some plagues that God will put onto Egypt if the pharaoh doesn’t let the Hebrews go. Oh wait, that’s not even the best part… “But Moses said to the LORD, "Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?” Exodus 6:30.
Great, so now Moses struggles with public speaking as well. Ey, if I was in Moses’ shoes, I can safely say my trust levels would be prettttty low (even lower than my bank account after I decide I need just “one” new pair of jeans…).
But Moses trusts God and does what He says, then BOOM the Hebrews are eventually released and God even gives them VIP travel rights through the Red Sea.

We don’t always know why something is happening, but when the time is right, it will make sense. I love this verse: “Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." (John 13:7) 

Often in the present, our perception can be twisted and inaccurate. How often do you look back at something you thought was really bad and then realise it was actually super easy to solve? I remember in matric I got so stressed about finding the perfect matric dance dress that I actually got sad and anxious- I mean it was the matric dance; it had to be perfect. In hindsight, I realise I wasted so much time moping when I should have just remained positive and gone to look at another dress place until I found something I liked (we eventually found the perfect dress at like the sixth place I looked at… Thanks again, Granny, for going with me- after all that walking we were definitely ready for Comrades!) 

We so often get angry at God- and often this anger just stems from lack of trust. Please, I’m not trying to offend anyone or anything like that, but it is true. Often when bad things happen, it feels better when we have someone to blame and most of the time that “someone” is God. The thing is, evil exists. God gave us free will. If you decide not to study and you fail that test, it is your own fault. Why are there starving children? Maybe if money was handled better and in a less corrupt manner, there would be sufficient finances to feed the poor.

I don’t have all the answers and I won’t pretend to, but at the end of the day, I know that everything will work out- it may just not happen right when I want it to. It also may happen in a way I didn’t expect it to.

Psalm 9:10 says, “Those who know your name trust in you, for You, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” The key word is seek. When you really go to God and desire to find more of Him, He will come through.
From personal experience, I can honestly say I was never angry at God when my parents and brother passed away. Yes, I missed them and still do, and yes I was angry about some other things surrounding that time, but God came through for me in ways I can’t even begin to explain! A big thing,though, was the people He put into my life. Like with Moses, God got Aaron to go with him and help him speak, God provided me with people to fill every single part of my life that was missing something because of losing my parents. It probably doesn’t sound like much, but seriously I can’t explain how good these people were and have been, the love that they have showed me is not something you see every day and I am beyond grateful for that. 

So yes, I know that trust isn’t easy but I also know that God will come through for you. Maybe right now that bad thing doesn’t make sense, but one day when your puzzle is finished, you will see that every single part was pieced together for a purpose. Better yet, maybe through carrying your own burden, you can make someone else’s burden just that little bit lighter by helping them through it.

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

We weren’t meant to do this by ourselves. Give yourself and your situation to God- let Him help you through it. I think the hardest part is giving away your own control, but at the end of the day, “…we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

God bless <3