How can I trust God when many times I just don’t understand what He’s doing? Have you ever felt that way?

Most people claim to believe in a Supreme Being, and in the United States ideas about God are traditionally shaped by the Christian Bible. The Bible teaches that God is loving, all-powerful and able to be everywhere at the same time. Yet many times those who believe in God find themselves in situations that don’t seem to make sense. Why doesn’t God intervene in a personal crisis? Why is a young person allowed to suffer an untimely death? Have we been left here on planet earth to sort of work this out for ourselves?

Every human being desires a purpose in his or her life…a reason for existence. All of us possess an emotional necessity to believe that we have value and that there is meaning in suffering. These needs originate in an inherent deep-seated hunger for God. We try to fill that hunger with careers, wealth, sex, drugs, social crusades, the newest pop psychology theory, but the hunger stills exists. This hunger can’t be satisfied until we recognize that we were created to have a relationship with the Creator.

Why doesn’t God always answer prayer?

One of the remarkable gifts the Creator has given human beings is free will. We have self-consciousness, creativity, emotions and the ability to reason and make choices.

This ability to make choices is why the world is in such a mess. Human history is a catalog of failed experiments involving governments, religions and philosophies that promise happiness, peace and prosperity for everyone. The missing ingredient in all of these experiments is the way of life designed by the Creator of life.

It’s not that God doesn’t want to be involved, it’s that most of the time we don’t invite Him to be involved. Each of us labors under the belief that “I can do it my way” and make life work. Unfortunately, we seldom stop and ask, “Is this really working?”

We can talk with God anytime, but a quirk of human nature is that if we don’t get an immediate and positive answer we conclude God didn’t respond to our prayer.

When God doesn’t seem to respond to our prayers, we need to ask, “Have I been cut off from God because I’ve been living in rebellion against Him?” The prophet Isaiah says, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save…but your iniquities have separated you from your God” (Isaiah 59:1-2)

Sometimes we need to evaluate our own humility before the Creator of the universe. He’s not the proverbial genie in a bottle granting wishes to those who perform the right incantations. It is easy to approach God with a flippant, disrespectful attitude and wonder why He doesn’t respond to us.

Jesus said that if we have faith then we can ask God to move mountains and He will cast them into the sea. It’s safe to say that God doesn’t want Christians going around throwing all the mountains into the sea. One of the most difficult aspects of having free will is having enough trust in God to say, “Your will be done.” We must have confidence that God has our best interests at heart.

Sometimes God’s answer isn’t what we want

Sometimes we have to accept that God’s answer is “no” or “wait.” Any adult understands that “wait” is a wise response to a five-year-old boy’s request for a pocketknife even though “wait” seems arbitrary, even cruel, to the child because of his limited reasoning ability.

Anyone who works with children has tried to explain a simple concept only to be asked repeatedly, “Why?” No matter how many times you change your wording, talk slower or raise your voice, sometimes a child just can’t understand the reality of an adult.

It’s the same way between God and us. He sees a bigger picture of life. He understands our personalities, our weakness, our anxieties; and He cares about our ultimate good. Unfortunately, with our limited minds we keep asking, “But why, Daddy?” At some point we have to trust that Daddy knows what He’s doing.

Most people claim to believe in a Supreme Being, and in the United States ideas about God are traditionally shaped by the Christian Bible.

Due to our limitations as human beings, there are going to be times when God seems beyond our reach. It is haunting to consider Jesus’ exclamation, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). It’s hard to imagine the Son of God experiencing that level of despair. Yet, in that statement we can find comfort. Christ, who sits in heaven at the right hand of the Father, knows what it’s like to feel estranged from the Majesty and Power of the universe. He experienced what it is to be human.

In that way Christ’s intercession is more than a legal action of taking our sins upon Himself. It is a personal relationship. Because of Christ’s intercession, we can ask God for what the apostle Paul calls the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). We may not always be able to understand what God is doing, but we can experience inner peace and confidence in what He is doing.

People confused by Jesus

Jesus had a special relationship with a man from Bethany named Lazarus. John 11 records how Jesus was preaching in a nearby town when messengers arrived to inform Him that Lazarus was very ill. Jesus then does something that seems to make no sense—instead of rushing to the side of his sick friend He stays where He was for two days. In fact, He deliberately waits until Lazarus dies before going to Bethany.

Imagine the thoughts that went through the minds of Christ’s disciples. He performed miracles wherever He went but now He deliberately delays going to His seriously ill friend.

It’s not that God doesn’t want to be involved, it’s that most of the time we don’t invite Him to be involved.

Jesus arrives in Bethany and is confronted by Martha, Lazarus sister. She is perplexed by Jesus’ delay. His actions towards His friend just don’t make any sense. Martha says to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21).

Mary, Lazarus’ other sister, is also perplexed by Jesus’ delay and asks Him why He didn’t come sooner. Jesus becomes so overwhelmed by the grief of those around Him that John records that He wept with them.

Jesus then goes to Lazarus’ tomb and prays for God to resurrect Lazarus from the dead as proof that He is the Messiah. Lazarus comes walking from the tomb, wrapped in his burial clothes, like some mummy in a horror film.

Lazarus’ death had been allowed by God as part of a greater plan to reveal His Son. Of course, there was no way for friends and family to understand that during the crisis. God’s picture was much bigger than their immediate difficulties. And there lies the dilemma, human beings must trust in God’s bigger plan even though we can’t always see it.

Life is like putting together a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. You have to trust that eventually all the pieces will fit together to create the picture on the cover of the box.

God’s help in times of despair

Our predicament originates in a simple concept. Human beings were made in the image of God. Sin is any action, thought or emotion that is the opposite of how the Creator designed life. Once sin enters into our experience our emotions and thoughts become twisted. The result is suffering, broken relationships, meaningless lives and eventual death.

The gospel is the message of how God sent His Son to take our sins upon Himself and receive the penalty we deserve. But that isn’t all there is to the gospel. Human beings are the only incomplete creation on earth. We have to be prepared for eternity. Eternity arrives when Christ returns a second time to resurrect the dead and establish His Father’s Kingdom on this earth.

Understanding why our lives got into such a mess and how God has a plan to get us out of the mess is the beginning of seeing that bigger picture. We have to accept that our emotions and thought processes are damaged. Then we can begin to seek the help of God in being healed. This includes living the way of life outlined in the Bible. Healing is more than going to a physician. You must also put into action the changes needed for getting well.

This healing includes accepting God’s love and the incredible future He has in store for those who are willing to let Him be involved in their lives. Today we can, in a very limited way, begin to view our present sufferings in the tapestry of the Creator’s plan for His creation including Christ’s Second Coming to fix the world we live in.

Many times it is easier to heal human illness than damaged human emotions. When faced with terrible loss, or a difficult time of life, first accept that it’s OK to be human. Emotions like grief are a natural response to intense loss not a lack of faith.

We have to accept that our emotions and thought processes are damaged.

It’s important to have a support group in times of crises. You don’t want to end up isolated. Most importantly, we need to be able to pour out our emotions to God. Write down what you are experiencing and read these intimate thoughts and feelings to God in prayer.

God isn’t the cause of suffering, but He is the only solution. As beings with free will, we have the opportunity to explore every possible solution to the human condition. We continue to come up woefully short.

When most of us are suffering, the outcome isn’t as dramatic or immediate as it was for Lazarus, Martha and Mary, but during the dark days of Lazarus’ illness and death they did not know what the outcome would be. All they had during those times of despair was a faith that God had not abandoned them and that Lazarus would some day be resurrected from the dead. Faith is more than belief in God. It is the trust that He is always acting for the ultimate, eternal good for every human being. It is the basis for hope in the future.