Trust God Completely

When life feels overwhelming and fear tightens its grip, the key to peace isn’t moral control—it’s learning to trust God completely. This excerpt explores how surrendering your worries to Him leads to true freedom, contentment, and lasting joy, even in life’s toughest seasons. Discover how deep trust unlocks the promises God has for you.

We all wish the battle against our worry and anxiety was an easy one to win. But in truth, so often our minds are like a vise of fear and control. And the ongoing problem that hinders us is when we tighten the screws of that vise around our life and circumstances.

It’s so important to understand this concept right now because the stress you’re feeling at the moment is directly proportional to the control you feel you can exert over any given situation. To quote a great line from the poet Kahlil Gibran, “Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.”

As believers, all of us want to trust God and have confidence in Him, but sometimes we let the cares of this world blindside our faith. Sure, we can recite Scriptures about trusting God and casting our cares at His feet, but when it’s all said and done, we haven’t moved an inch toward doing what those verses mean.

As we give up control over our problems and let God be God, we have to learn the lesson of complete contentment in Him. We may be desperately wanting our situation to change, but we also have to find joy in the Lord even if it doesn’t change. That can be a hard place to be.

The truth is, we grow more deeply in our intimacy with God during the difficult seasons of life than we do when everything is smooth sailing. As testers of our faith, these times help us learn to nurture our peace and confidence in Him, so that He can build up our trust in His Word and Spirit. Paul says, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Philippians 4:11).

If we take a page from Paul’s book, then we can understand what it means to be content. Here’s a man who endured beatings, stonings, imprisonment, and torture, and yet he was able to remain joyful, no matter the difficulties. Paul said it was a matter of casting his cares on the Lord and trusting in Him. When he did that, he was able to allow the Holy Spirit to carry him through the hardships he faced.

What an incredible state of peace he must have felt, to be able to deal with things in such peace and harmony in his spirit. No matter the adversities, he could rejoice in the Lord’s goodness and remain content with the circumstances he found himself in.

God wants us to experience that contentment, too, but it is a process to get there. If we keep following the Lord, being faithful and obedient, and trusting in Him, then regardless of our situation, we’ll have the ability to find joy and contentment.

The nitty-gritty of it all hinges on our complete trust in our Lord and Savior. As Proverbs 3:5-6 instructs us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

It’s in that complete reliance on Him where we’ll find true freedom. We also have to give up the pretense that we know what’s best in our lives. The enemy will do his best to convince us that our way is right as he tries to tempt us to take the road of worry instead of the path of peace.

But if we look to God as we walk that road and obey Him, we will experience the joy of his guidance and protection. Instead of just muddling through the stress of figuring it out alone, we can enjoy God’s life-giving presence and have the confidence of knowing He’s near.

You remember the prophet Jeremiah, don’t you? Jeremiah faced some dark days, especially when his beloved city of Jerusalem was ransacked by an invading army. Nevertheless, when things seemed darkest, when it looked like all was lost, He saw the reassuring light of God’s breakthrough in a powerful way:

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord (Lamentations 3:22–26 NASB).

Take a few moments to meditate on the life-changing words and concepts in this passage: the Lord’s lovingkindness … compassion … faithfulness … provision … hope … salvation. Although he found himself in difficult circumstances, Jeremiah proclaimed that “the Lord is good.” Make that your declaration today as well. Shout it from your rooftop. No matter how dark your situation may seem, declare God’s goodness and faithfulness. He is good all the time!

But notice that Jeremiah also recognized his need to “wait” for the Lord to fulfill His Word. The Hebrew word for “wait” is qavah, which means to wait with hope and expectancy. This is not gloomy or passive waiting, but rather faith-filled anticipation that God will be faithful to carry out the promises of His word.

You can always trust that God is who He says He is, and that He will do what He says He will do. Maybe Jeremiah had been tempted to doubt this, but the Lord told him plainly: “I am watching over my word to perform it” (Jeremiah 1:12 NASB).

That is His message to you today as well. What God has promised you, He will do. Trust Him!

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Excerpt taken from Simple Steps to Handling Stress by Inspiration Ministries

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