Learning to Trust God to Take Care of You

Have you ever heard people say, “God will work it out”? What does it make you feel when you hear that? Does it bring you peace or does it bring out your cynical and doubtful side?

As a child and up through my teenage years, it definitely brought out my cynical side. I was the kid who went to church because my grandmother made me or a friend pressured me. I slept through services and left as soon as it seemed like the service was about to end. Needless to say, I didn’t believe that God would work anything out for me.

I think many people share my viewpoint and question how much God really cares about them. If you are one of those people, this article is for you.

God Cares

 This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

Jeremiah 29:10-11

This is one of MANY Scriptures that tell us how much God cares for us. When you read this Scripture, does it make you feel faithful or fearful? I have gone from being fearful to faithful when reading this Scripture over the years. Because I fear disappointment, the idea that God would take care of me and give me a hope and a future scared me. The thought of being disappointed robbed me of the joy I should feel when reading this passage.

Do you get positive or negative feelings when you read this Scripture? Why?

How God feels when we think he doesn’t care

God answered Moses, “So, do you think I can’t take care of you? You’ll see soon enough whether what I say happens for you or not.”

Numbers 11:23

Have you ever felt this way? You tell someone that you are there for them and let them know that you will help them and they doubt your love? Doesn’t feel good. Makes me feel rejected and hurt.

God also doesn’t like it when we don’t believe him when he promises to take care of us. Great thing about God is, he isn’t like us and even though we can doubt him, he will still come through for us.

God cares about what we care about

… casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].

1 Peter 5:7 (AMP)

God knows that we worry about things, have desires for things and get concerned about many things and he cares. This Scripture says he watches over us with deepest affection and very carefully. The closest comparison I can think of is a mother tending to her newborn baby. They are so attentive and ready to help at any moment, working overtime to calm fears and comfort their little one. This is what God does for us. All we have to do is tell him what is on our minds and what we are feeling.

This happens through prayer. Do you pray? If you do, how much do you tell God everything? He wants to know what’s on your heart so that he can relieve your fears and replace them with hope.

God uses people to care for us

 Eternal One: Get up, and travel to Zarephath. It is in the possession of Sidon, which is outside Israel. Remain there, and do not leave for any reason. There is a widow in Zarephath whom I have told to take care of you.

1 Kings 17:9

One way God takes care of us is through the people around us. Even before I decided to start going to church on my own in college, I saw how God used people in my life to take care of me when I needed it. All through school, from elementary to high school, he gave me teachers, coaches and family friends who cared and took a special interest in me. From introducing me to the violin and opening a door that never would have been opened, to having me over for holiday events, to changing my entire class schedule to put me in honors and AP classes when I was trying to go the easy route, to buying my class ring my junior year because they knew I was gonna make it … all of these people cared for me and loved me when I needed it most.

As I look back from time to time, I know that God moved through people to give me the pushes I needed along the way to become who I am now. One of the biggest ways God worked through people to help me was in college when my some friends taught me about God through the Bible. Best time ever. Wouldn’t be writing this article if I hadn’t learned that God does care about me back in college.

Who has God put in your life to care for you spiritually? To help you to have that hope and future he has planned for you? Do you allow them to help you?

Let God take care of you

Depend on [Commit your way to] the Lord; trust [have confidence in] him, and he will take care of you.

Psalm 37:5

This Scripture promises that when we choose to depend on God, he will take care of us.

What areas of your life do you resist letting God take care of you? Family? Dating? Finances? Friendships?

Make a decision today to let God take care of you in every area of your life and watch and see how he will prove faithful to you. Remember, he really does have a great plan for you. Give him a chance to take care of you and you will see how good he can be.