"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 paths" Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5–6.

Trusting God is easy when everything is going well. It is a little harder to do when you find yourself in the midst of trials. It is hard to not lean on your own understanding and it is hard to trust with all your heart when things seem to be going a different way to how you envisioned life would go.

However, the wisdom from the Bible is far greater than any earthly wisdom and it is the living word that gives us our nourishment. The word says to count it all joy whenever we are faced with troubles.

"Count it all joy, my brothers, and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance."

"Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" James chapter 1 verses 2–4.

A new level

When we are going through times that might not make sense to us, we can turn our hearts and minds to God and ask him to help us trust and believe he has it all figured out.

We can start to thank him for everything, the good and not so good, because perhaps we are learning invaluable lessons as we journey through the hardship.

A new level of trust and a deeper faith and reliance on God may be developed within us which will help us to grow and mature in our walk with him.

Our focus will be sharpened as we study and meditate on His truths and on what He says about us and our future - 'For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future' Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11.

This passage is quite well known and is often quoted when needing reassurance in terms of our future. It has been a favourite of mine through the years. However, what is often not quoted is what was going on to God's people prior to verse 11. About 10,000 Jewish people had been forced to relocate from Jerusalem to the city of Babylon and they were under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar.

In Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 10–11 God says, "You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again."

"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Verse 11 takes on a deeper meaning when you know a little context. I am sure there were a few people wondering what was going on and why they had been exiled. Oh, and only for seventy years! I am sure they had to learn to trust God and lean not on their own understanding.

They persevered

There are so many stories in the Bible of people who walked difficult journeys who were at times confused and discouraged, yet they persevered and grew in maturity and later saw God's goodness and faithfulness come to pass.

I hope we can learn to view our trials and hardships as times when we can draw closer to God and trust that he will work all things together for good.