It’s hard to trust God for the future when it is so unknown. Most of us are so attached to our outcomes that many of us cannot live in the present moment without thinking of the future. We say we trust God, and perhaps we encourage others to do the same, yet we are behind the scenes dabbling in every circumstance of our lives, making sure they go according to our plan for our desired future outcome.
We tend to trust God the most when our normal looks good, but then we question Him in the bad, and our lack of trust rises to the surface. During these difficult times, we tend to forget all the ways God has been faithful to us in the past. This is why we are told in Scripture to remember and not to forget God’s faithfulness. God must have known we would be forgetful people. Even the Israelites forgot God’s faithfulness as He was faithful to bring them out of slavery in Egypt. Eventually, they forgot and became afraid of their future, as they began not trusting God anymore with what was ahead of them. Their fears lead to their failure to trust God for the future. This prevented them from ever reaching the promised land full of blessings “filled with a land of milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8).
Just like the Israelites, we tend to remember our traumas, our hurts, and things that devastate us forgetting the beautiful things and grace-filled moments when the Lord provided direction, restoration, and guidance. It’s important we remember the good in our God so that we can trust Him with the unknown future. If you already know you are not trusting God for your future, I encourage you to remember how the Lord met you, directed you, and provided for you in those past times. If you are not sure on whether or not you are trusting God for your future in your life, here are some scriptures with questions to ask yourself to determine any lack of trust in God for your future that you may have.
Are you relying on your expected answer or God’s answer?
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10
I am so guilty of saying I want to live God’s purpose out for my life and live in His will for my life. Yet, when His will doesn’t look like my ‘ideal’ will, I tend not to trust Him anymore. We all have this idea of how things are “supposed to be” in our lives. We have this idea of how things should be for us to be happy or how our circumstances will get fixed. Therefore, we lift our eyes to the Father in prayer, hoping God will answer us in the way we expect Him to. We rely on our expected answers rather than God’s perfect answer and His will to be done.
This verse is part of the modeled prayer that Jesus told His disciples in how they should pray. We are to pray for God’s will to be done, not our own will. When we lean into our own will, ideas, and beliefs on how things are “supposed to be,” we are left disappointed, and our lack of trust for God rises. We think perhaps He is not working, so we then begin to push our will and ideas stepping over God’s perfect will.
You can determine if you are trusting God with your future by asking the question: are you relying on your own expected answer or God’s answer? If you are relying on your ideas, then you may not be trusting God for your future. Practice saying this daily prayer and trusting His will to be done, even if it looks nothing like the way you expect it to.
Do you ask God to direct your day today?
“Pray without ceasing.” I Thessalonians 5:17-19
Many of us wake up and start our day on complete autopilot. From the moment our alarms go off, we have the demands of our to-do’s, work, kids, and spouses. Not to mention, we are full of notifications and emails from our multiple devices.
To trust God with our future, it’s so important to be in a constant state of prayer from the moment our day starts. Through prayer, we hear from God, and He can lead us and direct our days that lead to our future.
We need to develop the spiritual discipline of praying our entire day away as this Scripture states to pray without ceasing. God is not interested in only the big days or events in our life; He wants to be invited into our part of our day to day. Every meeting, every decision, small and large. Every interaction from the Starbucks drive-through to the cashier a the grocery store to the customer service rep on the phone. Pray about what God wants for you to do today and who He wants you to speak to.
Praying your day away allows God to direct your days rather than us fall into a place where we are taking out own steps and making our own decisions trusting in our own decisions for the future. The Lord is just one prayer away, waiting to hear from you and speak to you. Having a consistent prayer life connects us to His will as he governs our lives. In doing so, we build trust with God for our days and our future.
You can determine if you are trusting God with your future by asking yourself if you are asking God to direct your day today? Not just some days, but every part of today and every day.
Do you have peace in your life?
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
A clear question to ask yourself if or not you are trusting God with your future is, do you have peace in your life? Notice the verse, though: that in order to have peace, we must not only pray and bring everything to the Lord, letting Him know what we are anxious and worried about the future for, but we are to do it with thanksgiving.
During our worst moments and moments of worry about the unknown future, usually, the last thing we think about is to be thankful while feeling anxious. But that moment you begin praising and speaking words of thanksgiving is the moment the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. It is with thanksgiving in our prayers to Him that the peace of God will come and overwhelm us and completely surpass all of our understanding of what is worrying us and keeping us up at night. It is through thanksgiving and a heart of gratitude that peace overrides our worry.
You can determine if you are trusting God with your future by asking yourself if you have peace in your life regarding your situation that is unknown in your future. Living a life of constant prayer and a heart of gratitude will give you the trust and peace you need for the unknowns of the future.
Are you leaning on your understanding or God’s understanding?
“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 path.” Proverbs 3:5-6
God’s ways are higher than ours, and He is wiser than the wisest person we know. He is omniscient – He knows everything. Yet a lot of us, for some reason, have little trust in God with our future because we lean on our own understanding rather than on God’s wise understanding. This verse talks about trusting the Lord with all our hearts. Let’s pause here for a moment and ask ourselves, are we trusting the Lord with all of our heart or a partial heart? Or do we trust Him one day and not the next? Do we trust him with parts of lives more than others? Do we trust Him with certain things, but then take control in our own hands regarding other things?
We do not trust God with our future when we live our lives partially devoted to the Lord with a partial heart. He is asking for our complete trust. He knows the beginning from the end, so let’s trust in His understanding of the future no matter what is happening in our lives. He knows our future, and we should lean into that wholeheartedly. When we trust Him with all our heart and acknowledge His understanding over our own, He will direct our future according to His great purpose for our lives.
You can determine if you are trusting God with your future by asking yourselves if you are leaning on your own understanding and not God’s understanding by trusting Him with a whole heart.
Do you turn to the world first or the Word?
“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33
To know if you are trusting God with your future, ask yourself who you are turning to first, or perhaps it’s who you are turning to more often than God. Are you relying on the news media for answers, or seeking out the truth of your mentor, best friend, or parent, over the truth of God’s Word? While none of these resources are wrong to ever turn to for wisdom and advice on our future, they are not the Source of absolute truth. In order to trust God with our future, we need to solely rely on the truth from God and not from the world. We must assign God first place in our lives to trust him with our entire life and future.
We live in a world full of many people’s advice and truth. We live in a world with twisted truth and things that may “almost” seem true. If you are getting your truth from the world and not from the Word of God, then you will begin to pick up lies and worries of the world, causing you to not trust in God’s purpose and plan for your future. We need to seek first the Kingdom of God, and then everything else secondary. Everything else is great as resources, but they are not the Source we should turn to. The Source is God, and He is the “way, the truth, and the light” (John 14:6) in this dark world full of lies and worry.
You can determine if you are trusting God with your future by asking yourself if you are turning to the world first or seeking the word of God first.
Alisha Headley is a writer + speaker who has a desire to meet the everyday woman in her everyday life with biblical truth. Stepping into her true calling, she left the corporate world behind as a former-financial VP to love on her family as a stay-at-home wifey + dog mama, while also being able to pursue her passion as a writer. Healing from a chapter of life consumed with lies she once believed about herself, she is inspired to point women to Christ to experience the freedom + power to overcome those lies with the truth written in God’s word. In her free time, Alisha enjoys road trips around the country, working out so she can eat her favorite foods, and creatively styling her outfits with a craft for fashion. Alisha is a proud wifey and dog mama living in Scottsdale, Arizona.
You can follow her blog by visiting her website or connect with her on facebook + instagram.