How to Trust God When You Are Suffering

It’s easy to praise God when the bills are all paid, the baby’s asleep, and the kids are alright. But what about when life turns south? Many of us struggle theologically with “Why does God allow suffering” when we’ve tried to live right, do right, be right.

Bad situations often put distance between God and us as we begin to wonder, “What’s wrong with me?” or ask the question, “God, where are You?” Questions can turn into bitterness as you ask, “What have I done to deserve this?” Does God care? Is He even there?

Bad diagnoses, death, bankruptcy, wayward children—for most of us, this is not what we signed up for when we became a Christian. These downward turns to life can create a rift in our theology of who God is—and a gap in our ability to trust Him.

He is the I AM

If that’s where you’re at, right here, right now—then I invite you to consider, why would the Bible call Him the “God of all comfort” if He didn’t know we would need comfort?

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV).

Why “Mighty Counselor” if He didn’t know we would need skilled counsel to navigate our way through life?

“… And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Why the “Prince of Peace” unless He knew we’d encounter times of turmoil, within and without? Why our “Rock of refuge” – unless He knew we would need a safe place of protection?

“The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2).

A shelter from the storm, our high tower… The list goes on and on of God’s holy provision of who He is in every stormy circumstance.

In every moment—the good and bad, the highs and lows—He is there. He is ready to intervene.

He is Listening

In times of suffering, we can either trust and turn towards the Lord or turn away. Run into His arms or to the world’s alternatives and “easy” answers. He’s there for us if we’ll only cry out, look up, and trust.

“Know that the LORD has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him” (Psalm 4:3).

He is waiting for your call to help. He is listening, His ear tuned for the sound of His son or daughter asking for His intervention.

We do the same thing as a parent. Our ears are tuned to listen for the cry of our child, even when they’re grown. Our hearts are open to the hands stretched upward… The late-night call, the tearful conversations. We are ready to respond with a warm hug, an understanding look, or a word of wisdom that springs from the love that only a parent can give.

What Does Crying Out to God Look Like?

What does crying out to God look like? It can be loud and messy. Consider Elijah, who wrestled in prayer, fervently praying for the rain to stop in the days of wicked King Ahab. The rain stopped, and three and a half years later, he prayed again until a cloud appeared in the sky and the rains came.

The Bible calls his prayers fervent and effective—his head bowed between his knees as he prayed the kind of prayers that move heaven and earth (1 Kings 18:41-45, James 5:16-17).

Consider Hannah, who was so distraught in prayer that the priest Eli thought she was drunk.

“In her deep anguish, Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly” (1 Samuel 1:10).

It wasn’t a pretty sight as she cried out from the depths of her being to her God, desperate for a child, desperate for His response. And the Lord heard. The very next year, she conceived a child, the prophet Samuel.

Practical Ways to Look to God For Help

Running to God in the midst of a trial can look like turning off Netflix or turning off the radio. It’s taking action to turn off the noise around us and quiet our souls. It’s taking action to remove the distractions and listen for His voice, His counsel.

Turning to God may be as simple as spending time in God’s word. Opening the Bible to feed your soul with His truth to balance out the negatives and the naysayers and the blaring lab report that has shaken your world. It’s a matter of gaining God’s point of view, taking a seat in the “heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” to rise above our earthly perspective on life (Ephesians 2:6).

It may mean going against the flow of everything the world is telling you to do, and instead sitting at the feet of your Lord and King. Your Savior. Your Healer. Your hope and redemption.

It Begins With Trusting Who God Is

It boils down to trust. Trusting that God is who He said He is. Believing that He cares and He is with you in the good, the bad and the ugly. Just like He was there in the fire with Shadrach,

Meshach and Abednego, He is with you in the fire of a cancer diagnosis, a child’s gender dysphoria or a business venture that fails.

I saw a billboard recently that said, “No Matter What the Question—Jesus is the Answer.” It sounds so very cliché at first, but if we have a strong grasp on who the Bible says He is, then it’s true.

He is the I Am. He is everything you need, no matter what speedball life throws at you. He is God with us, Emmanuel.

“‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’)” (Matthew 1:23).