Trust is such a large part of faith. Faith is believing that God is real and present and great, but trust is believing that He will never leave us, no matter what happens or how we feel, and not trying to steal the reins and take control. It can be terrifying to think of all the things we can do nothing about, so it is supposed to comfort us that God is taking care of everything. We’re supposed to let go and trust God to handle it.

So, why is that so hard?

We are designed to ask questions. “Why? How will it work? What will happen? When?” We like to have plans, goals, and choices. We range on the scale of control freak to easy going, though even the most relaxed person has their limits to the lack of control they can tolerate. So, when God asks us to take a step forward into the dark with no explanation or long-term vision, it’s terrifying. But when we take that step, that is trust.

We can compare trust to a blindfolded exercise. If you are blindfolded and assigned a guide to help you get through an obstacle course, you could drag your feet and question every move as your guide pulls you along. But trust would be matching them step for step, listening for their voice, and following their directions. As this trust grows, the guide has to provide fewer instructions. Instead of telling you every step to take, instructions come only when a new direction is needed or if you veer off course. You can continue moving forward, continuing on your path, until you hear otherwise.

Trust isn’t a lesson we can learn once and then just move on from, it is a constant growth in our relationship with God. Yet we'll never learn if we're constantly fighting God and second guessing everything. Eventually, we need to start walking and follow His lead, and He'll show us that He’s still there, and still in control. It isn’t always easy, but the greatest things are those worth fighting for.

God is absolutely deserving of our trust. We see countless examples in the Bible of Him taking care of His people and providing in ways we’d never expect. First, though, His people had to have faith and trust in Him. It was when they forgot about Him that everything fell apart. God won battles and conquered land for the Israelites time and again, though first the armies had to step up to the front lines. And God will prove we can trust Him in our own lives, too. We just need to take the opportunities He provides and follow His lead, even when it’s terrifying. Especially when it’s terrifying.

Not handing over our lives to God or trusting Him is like trying to move houses all by yourself – either just to prove you don’t need help or out of fear someone else would mess it up. However, furniture is heavy and awkward and usually a two-person job, at least. A table will scratch the floor as you drag and push it towards the door, and a table is almost as hard to fit through a doorway as a couch. You’d probably drop the dresser down the stairs and put a hole in the wall, maybe taking yourself down with it. Then there’s getting everything into the moving truck. And out of the moving truck. And into your new house.

Now you have scratched floors, a hole in the wall, and a broken arm. You're worse off than you were at the beginning, and you realize what you should have known at the beginning: You need help.

Moving by ourselves is something we’d never want to do. Going through life without leaning on God for support is just as hard, and unnecessary.  

Now, I’m not saying we should do absolutely nothing for ourselves and believe everything will be fine. We can’t quit our jobs and expect God to house us in a mansion. We still have to pull our own weight, but we can rely on God to help us through and carry us when we just can’t keep going anymore.

Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Maybe this is a verse you’ve known for years, one of those things you’ve heard so many times it’s lost its meaning. Or maybe this is your first time reading it. Either way, you should read the verse again. Focus on the words and let their meaning sink into you. God promises to be with us always. He will never leave us or turn His back, and because of this, we have nothing to be afraid of. This doesn’t mean life will be all peaches and cream, though. Hard things will happen, and life can be scary. God doesn’t promise to protect us from all the bad things of this world; He promises to be by our side and help us when we have to face them.

There’s a story – originally a poem – about a man walking along the beach with God. When he looks back at his life and the footprints behind him, sometimes he sees one set of prints and sometimes he sees two. He saw that the places when there was only one set of footprints were the times when he had faced hardship and grief. So, he turns to the Lord, hurt, and says, “I don’t understand. You promised to never leave me, but I can see I was alone at the times I needed you most.” And God replies, “No, child, I never left you. Where you see only one set of footprints isn’t because you were alone, it’s because I carried you.”

There are times we don’t hear God speak or don’t feel Him near, but that doesn’t mean He isn’t there. He is still by our side and taking care of us in ways we just may not see. He’s still in control the whole time, and always has a purpose to His silence. He isn’t that friend who never answers your calls or replies to your texts. God always hears us and always answers – even if the answer is silence. God can use silence in amazing ways, and He has a plan in everything. We don’t always see it, so there’s a lot of things we don’t understand. Some things will make sense when we look back with hindsight, and other things will be a mystery until we get to meet God in heaven and can ask all our questions.

It’s ok to not understand everything. And, really, do we want a God that we understand all the time? Because, if we were to understand Him with our simple human minds, that would mean God is simple and small. And God is neither of those things. He is magnificent and great – and He’s on our side.