The future. It can be full of opportunities that fill you with excitement and at the same time be so scary that it fills you with insecurities. At times you can have so much anticipation for the future and at other times you can dread it to come. The future can feel so sure yet so frail at the same time. It can be full of eager anticipation and also so full of “what if’s”.
As much as we can do our part to obtain certain outcomes, the future is not completely in our control. Things happen. People get sick. Events take different turns. Things fall apart. Life doesn’t always go the way we planned.
As Christians, we must deal with these realities head on and we need to learn to trust God with our future. If you want to learn more about the foundation of trusting God read this post: THE SECRET TO TRUSTING GOD
This post is all about how to trust God with your future.
How To Trust God With Your Future
If you want to know the secret to trusting God in everything, you’re in the right place. Many Christians easily and nonchalantly say things like, “Just trust God” and “Let God and let go.” Although they are well-meaning and there is truth to those short statements, there is a lot more you need to understand to trust God with your future.
Here are 5 truths that you need to know and believe to grow in trusting God with your future and have more peace today.
1. Be confident in God’s sovereignty
God’s sovereignty is a result of His omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. To say that He is sovereign means that he is all-knowing, all-powerful, and in all places. He knows the past, present, and future. Nothing is more powerful than Him. He is in all places at all times.
When thinking of your future, this should bring you deep peace because you know that whatever happens, He knows about it, He has allowed it and He is there with you. Just because He is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent does not mean He will not allow bad things to happen. He has lovingly given us free will so that we are free to love Him and love others. This free will leads to good things but also many bad things. It led to sin entering the world, which has brought death and pain.
Yet in all this pain and suffering, He is King. He has not lost His power or control over things. He is in control, even of the Enemy who wants to hurt you. This truth brings peace to our souls.
Some of my favorite quotes on the sovereignty of God:
“If you believe that God overrules all things for good, and only permits apparently evil happenings for good and the achievement of great ends unbeknown to you, then all is well. All is well because you believe in the sovereignty of God.”
Henry Thomas Hamblin
“The sovereignty of God is the one impregnable rock to which the suffering human heart must cling. The circumstances surrounding our lives are no accident: they may be the work of evil, but that evil is held firmly within the mighty hand of our sovereign God.”
Margaret Clarkson
2. Know that God loves you
Once, a famous theologian was asked, “What is the greatest truth that ever crossed your mind?” He took a moment and then answered, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
I sing this song to my son every night before putting him to bed. Most of the time I sing it without thinking of how profound the words are. We speak of God’s love so often that we have forgotten what it really means and how deeply it affects our lives.
Understanding God’s love for us should affect the way we see the future because it fills us with confidence that whatever He allows in His sovereignty is for our good.
Matthew 7:11 has always been a great encouragement to me, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
God loved you enough to save you from a future of suffering in hell, how much more will He be with you, guide you, and strengthen you for your future?
3. Understand that God’s plans are above yours
Have you ever been on an airplane and sat on the window seat while the plane was taking off? At first, you see the huge airport you were just in and the marshallers directing the aircraft. Then suddenly you take off and the cars on the highway look like ants and your house looks like a pebble amongst the seashore. Things look a lot smaller than they appear when you are on land. That is because you cannot see everything at once. You are so small you can only see what is around you.
This is very important to understand as Christians. We are just a small player in God’s great work of redemption. Our lives are just one stroke on His great masterpiece. We are just one thread in a large tapestry. Some of us may die and never see the grand scheme of things until we are in heaven. And that’s okay.
We need to trust that God’s plan is much higher than ours. When things don’t go “our way” we have to remember He has a must better way. He has the bird’s eye view, we do not. He sees the beautiful picture, we just see the close-up brush strokes.
“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” Isaiah 55:8-9
4. Know that God will give you the grace you need
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I think about worst-case scenarios and I wonder how I would survive if they happened to me. Sometimes, the pain that I see others go through seems unbearable to me. “If that happened to me, how could I live another day?” These thoughts then cause more fear in me and less trust in God.
But the truth is that God will give you the grace to go through whatever you may face in the future. We do not want to live always dwelling on the “what if’s” but the truth is that sometimes they do happen. Life is not easy. There is pain, suffering, and death. But God promises to equip you with everything you need to face whatever comes your way.
You are not strong enough but God is. He is full of grace, peace, strength, and steadfastness. And He has made Himself fully available to you. Therefore, you have all those things at your fingertips wherever you need them.
This brings peace and trust for the future. Therefore we can confidently say, “I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)
5. Obey God and walk in His ways
Lastly, trusting God with our future means action. If we want to “let go and let God”, it is false to think that we must stop working hard and planning for our future. Trusting Him with our future means walking in obedience to His word and striving to live in a way that brings Him glory and honor.
As we walk in obedience to God in our day to day, He guides us in the steps we take and before we know it, the future is now here. The future we feared is now the present we walk in and it’s not as bad as we imagined it would be. It is infinitely better because we are walking with Christ and full of peace, joy, and confidence in Him.
Do not allow fear to paralyze you (it has definitely happened to me). Instead, allow fear to drive you to deeper trust and obedience to God. Read the Bible, fill yourself with truth, and walk in it. As you do this you will grow into a woman whose “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.” (Proverbs 31:25).
Wrap Up
Growing in trusting God with your future is part of the process of sanctification. It is part of our growing up in Christ. I believe trusting God is one of the aspects of the Christian faith that people struggle with the most because we all want to be in control of our lives and future.
But it is possible to grow in trusting Him more. May these truths better equip you to trust God with your future and be a woman who laughs at the time to come.
With love,
Jessica Ruth
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