UNWAVERING TRUST by Dr. Joseph Stowell
For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling.
When trials interrupt our tranquil and well-ordered lives, Satan would love to have us blame God and disconnect from the very source that we need in the midst of trouble. His first and successful strategy in the Garden of Eden was crafted to get Adam and Eve to believe that God was not good and to go it on their own. We all know the rest of that story.
Few moments in history better display the tension between our experience with life and our view of God than the exchange between Job and his wife. Although both had ample reason to see life from Satan’s point of view, it was his wife whose heart had been turned against God by their shared tragedy.
Her counsel: “Curse God and die!” (13:15). Job had an intimate connection with God that could not be severed by life’s circumstances, regardless of how wrenching they were. The tougher life got, the more Job felt he needed God. As Peter Kreft pointed out in his book Three Philosophies of Life, “Job has everything, even though he has nothing,” in contrast to the godless man who has “nothing even though he has everything.”
The psalmist confidently embraced God and testified in the midst of the calamities in his life, “Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident …. For in the day of trouble … he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock” (Psalm 27:3, 5).
Responding to difficult times in light of these certainties keeps our hearts and minds in touch with God and enables us to resist any wedge the Enemy seeks to drive between our heart and His. Regardless of circumstances, we can place our unwavering trust in God who deserves our highest allegiance. He cares intensely for us and does all things well.