How To Trust That God Is for You to Be Still & Not Fear

Learning how to be still and not fear requires trust that God is for you. Sounds simple right?

But be honest with me, does it ever feel like it’s you against the world?  It sounds almost childish to say out loud, but for most of my life it’s felt like that.  People don’t understand me or include me and they sure aren’t for me.  Can you relate? 

Maybe it’s the reserved introvert inside of me, but I walk the line between people and no people. However, the Lord has been teaching me that loneliness is a tool the enemy uses to keep us afraid and stuck in life.  Today we see a Biblical promise that speaks right to that need.

Can You Trust That God is For You?

It doesn’t matter how many times I say to you, “God is for you,” unless you trust Him, it will always be true but it won’t change your life.  

I want the Lord to change my life. Don’t you?

I get it though because I lived a lot of years not quite believing God was for me or at least that He was always for me.  The idea that HE was on my side kind of sounded too much like a fairy tale.  Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to believe it.  In fact, I could believe it for other people, but it didn’t seem to apply to my story.  

What does it mean that God is for us? We hear things like: 

• God cares about you. 
• He cares about the things you care about. 
• The LORD will never leave you. 
• God is fighting your battles. 
• When life is hard, Jesus is holding you together

They sound nice, but they don’t always feel true.  David is our character for today’s truth and I bet he could relate so well!

Related Post: Powerful War Room Prayers for Spiritual Battle

David, The King Who Waited

“The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6 NASB)

Psalm 118 is a celebration of David finally taking the kingdom of Israel as the LORD had promised so many years before.  He pens a song of praise and thanksgiving to the LORD who was with him through the long battle.

Some things to know about the context of Psalm 118:6:

• David was anointed – to become king one day – as a young boy.
• Between David’s anointing and conquest as King were many trials.
• David fought and killed the giant Goliath.
• When King Saul was in a rage David soothed him.
• David formed a beautiful friendship with Johnathan.
• There was a marriage in the midst of all the chaos.
• David was on the run for his life in the wilderness.
• For a time he pretended to fight for the enemy just to save his own life.
• At age 30 David became king of Israel.

David was a king who waited.  It must have felt like he was abandoned many times, unwanted, misunderstood, and all the rest.  If anyone in Scripture gets how hard it is to continue to trust that God is for you, it would be David. 

God’s Timing: Confusing But Perfect

We observe in David’s story, so much waiting time.  Waiting is hard. Wouldn’t you agree?

This is a perfect example of God’s timing being so different than our own.  The LORD had a plan to replace King Saul because he had messed up badly.  It seemed as though God would act quickly when He sent the prophet Samuel to anoint the young shepherd.  Then we see that David had a long and difficult wait to become king of Israel.

Do You Ever Wonder Why The Lord Is So Slow to Act?

Have you read the accounts of the life of David through the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles?  Each book shows you how the LORD used the waiting time in David’s life to mold him into a man after God’s own heart (failures and all*).

Why did it take the Lord so long to fulfill His promise in David’s life?

Have you been waiting on a promise from the Lord as well?

The truth is, what God has for you is for you alone.  Each of us will walk a different path with God.  He has a plan and it can feel like the LORD is moving slowly, but in reality, His timing and path are perfect.  

Do you trust His timing?

Sometimes I think the journey feels so slow because we are looking at the path others are on. It feels like we should be where they are, but much faster because we know how hard we are working. 

Just remember that you only see part of their journey.  Trust that the LORD is for you and will work all things together for your good in the end*!  When we trust Him, it helps us learn to be still, to keep our eyes on our own path.

Related Post: 40 Encouraging Bible Verses About Choices and Making Wise Decisions

Did you find this 40-day Fast to learn How to Be still mid-series? Click here to go back to the beginning of the story.

Waiting Time Is Not Wasted Time With The LORD

Years ago I was in a season of waiting.  It felt like my entire life was on hold and nothing was going my way.  Then a preacher began repeating a phrase that really sank deeply into my soul. Think of it as a God is for you quote:

Waiting time is not wasted time. 

It felt like wasted time at the moment. 

My marriage was falling apart, we had a newborn who could not be comforted, and financial troubles loomed around every corner.  All I could do was wait on God to fix things.  Waiting is just no fun.  

What I learned from that and many other seasons of waiting is that God does critical character-building during our waiting time.  Have you ever noticed that?

The Lord grows our faith while we wait.  Honestly, I’ve seen God move in miraculous ways while waiting. Miraculous ways!

When it feels like God has abandoned you to wait, know that God is for you and with you while you wait.  Don’t give up because the waiting time is lasting so long.  Use the still of the storm to be still with the Lord.

Remember Paul’s words:

“When God is for you who can be against you KJV.” (Romans 8:31 KVJ)

What Is the Response to God Is Good When Life Is Hard?

When trying to apply Psalm 118:6 we have to be very careful to not gloss over hard things.  

Life is hard. 

David’s life was very challenging.

So many times, Christians spout off God is for you verses as if to say life is easy because we have faith.  That is short-sighted and foolish.  Search out God is for you Scriptures and you will find reminders of God’s faithfulness often follow harrowing, gut-wrenching trials and hardships.  

Don’t mistake this God is for you Bible verse as a vague Christian platitude! No, it’s not that at all. It is, however, hugely powerful when you understand it in the context of who God is and the life He has called us to live. 

The truth is that God is good, but life is hard. This is a both and situation not an either or situation. The two things can co-exist. 

Let’s go a bit deeper.

Related Post: Will You Trust That God Is With You When Life Is Hard?

If God is for you, you can live life with confidence.  When God is for you, you can do what He called you to do and trust that things will be good in the end. Share on X

What Does It Mean That the Lord Is for You?

I just want to clear up this commonly confusing thought. “If God is for you who can be against you,” doesn’t mean no one will be against you. 

In fact, God has serious enemies which means there will be more against you as a believer.  What it means is that God wins. It doesn’t matter who is against you if the LORD is for you because He is the Lord and He is victorious. That means you, as His child, are victorious, protected, and cherished because the LORD is for you.  

What would change in your life if you really believed God is for you, and trusted that truth?  

God is on your side. 

Everyone else in your life might walk out on you, but God is right there rooting for you, holding you up, offering help in every season.

There really is a plan for your life.  God has called you and equipped you for something as His child.  Jesus Christ sits at the Father’s right hand praying for you, defending you, forgiving you, waiting for you to come boldly before Him in need of help.

Do you trust Him?

Do you trust that He is for you?

The Lord Is for You, Not Against You

This does not mean that life will be easy and trouble-free.  God doesn’t promise you will have a ton of yes men or even a group of best friends who get you and are for you.  But HE is for you.  Do you believe that? 

If God is for you, you can live life with confidence. 

When God is for you, you can do what He called you to do and trust that things will be good in the end.  

Sometimes It Feels Like God Is Against Me

Trusting the Lord is for me is tough.  Why is it tough to trust the Lord? Why do I sometimes feel like He is against me?

Can you relate to feeling like God is against you?

In my 40+ years on this earth, it feels like I’ve lived through more than my share of trauma. In the midst of the hard times in my life, I was sure God wasn’t even watching.  If God was for me, why wouldn’t He step in?  Why didn’t He act to help me when I prayed and prayed?

God is for you, not against you… I thought if I just said it over and over I would start believing it. Life was just so hard thought… for so long… that it took hard work to trust this truth; to trust the Lord.

Why is it always so hard?

Yes, HE is for you but He does not take away the free will of men.  That is where the truth of God’s character intersects with the harsh reality of living in a fallen world.

God NEVER takes away the free will of men and men are evil at heart.  My life (and yours I bet) has walked through the evils of fallen men.

• Lies
• Abuse
• Rape
• Cheating
• Betrayal

Humans sin against others… God does not.

In learning to be still and not fear I had to come to a place of trusting that God is for me – that God is not human. The Lord is trustworthy. He doesn’t cause the hard but He has used many evils in my life to help me grow. God never wastes a hurt!

Related Post: How to Trust That God Hears You and Not Fear

God Is Still Good When Life Is Hard

God did not save me from hard times.  That’s what I wanted… to have Him save the day. Over and over I prayed and pleaded for life to let up on the hurt, but it didn’t. 

Today, however, I can look back and see that He was for me through the hard times.  Psalm 118 is beautiful in its affirmation of who God is, as written by a man who suffered much of life’s hardships.  Look at this God is for you verse by verse from David’s pen. 

David says the same thing in Psalm 118.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is Good, His love endures forever!” :1

“From my distress I called upon the Lord; The Lord answered me.” :5

“It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.” :8

“They pushed me valiently so that I was falling, But the Lord helped me.” :13

“The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” :14

How To Trust That God is For You Through Hard Times

How did David get to the place of writing Psalm 118?  How can we say the Lord was for me through all those hard things?  

In the midst of the hard times, it’s tough, unless you are able to look at all God has done for you.  David repeatedly reminds us that God is full of loving-kindness.  He writes these songs to help us and to help himself remember God’s character.  

How can we trust that God is for us in the middle of hard times?

1. Look back
2. Look deeper
3. Build the relationship

Related Post: Be Still and Trust God When Change Is Hard

1. Look Back 

Looking back at all God has done in the past allows you to remember His past faithfulness. That faithfulness helps us keep our minds fixed on the facts rather than the feelings.  In the midst of hard times, feelings can try to take over and cloud our memory if we are not careful.  

God is faithful.  God has been faithful in the past and will be in the present. 

Trust Him!

2. Look Deeper

Search out, “If God is for you Bible verses,” and you will see that the heroes of the Bible saw things deeper than we look.  Deeper how? They saw God building character, growing faith, and pruning out sin rather than just seeing the struggle they faced. I want to see things deeper in that way!

Every single trial in my life has made me stronger, wiser, and kinder. They prepared me to help others. 

Through the most successful of those hard seasons, I pressed into God, prayed harder, and dug into the Word.  I leaned into God because it was the only life I had left to cling to.  As a result, there is a real and unwavering relationship with God in my life now.

Through some of those difficult seasons, however, I turned away from God. I gave into the temptation to wallow in self-pity and got good and stuck for a while. It took some very hard work to get unstuck.

Keeping our eyes on the Lord and looking deeper at the challenges helps us keep growing when we could get stuck. Trusting Him, even in the face of the impossible, helps us be still and set aside fear so we can grow and mature.

3. Build The Relationship

Have you ever noticed that God is all about relationships with His children? 

Now, to be honest, people (non-Christians) see our relationship theory as a crutch for the weak. Have you ever heard that? Well, I can say am weak on my own but strong with Christ on my side!

Besides, whoever looked at a lame man and mocked his crutches?  Support is critical for healing the brokenness in his body so that one day he can walk on his own.  To be honest, that is where the comparison ends, however, because I would never want to walk without God’s support.  Would you?

Think about it, the Creator of the Universe is for you, on your side, there to help you!  Why would anyone turn away from that kind of powerful relationship?

Are you weak and hurting?  Do you feel alone or rejected?  

The Lord is for you.  Be still with Him and do not be afraid of the rest.  

Related Post: 4 Proofs that if God is for Us Nothing Can Be Against Us 

4. Pray: A Prayer to Be Still and Know That God Is for You

Precious Jesus,

You know what it is like to be despised and rejected, to feel alone in this life.  Through every season of Your life, You trusted God.  When all seemed hopeless You did not fear.  As You were tortured, persecuted, hunted to be killed, and finally surrendered Your very life on the cross, You were still faithful, sinless, and yielded to God the Father.  Thank You.  Such small words, but I am so grateful You showed me how to live this life.

My suffering is nothing compared to Yours but it still feels very real to me.  I lay it at Your feet and praise You for being for me.  You are on my side through all of this.  Help me remember that, when the enemy begins to whisper about giving up.  I yield this life to You today, my strength comes from You, my joy comes from You and I will glorify Your holy name.

Amen

Will You Trust That God Is for You and Be Still Without Fear?

Trust issues come in all sizes but one thing is for sure; It is difficult at first to trust an unseen God with our lives.  Anybody else throwing up an, “Amen?”

Learning to trust God takes time and practice but the rewards are worth it.  God is for you and trusting Him to be there for you is a huge part of learning to be still and live without fear.  

How do you learn to trust God?  

1. Look back at all He’s done for you. 
2. Look deeper to see how He is changing you.
3. Build that relationship intentionally.
4. Pray – often and about everything.  

Will you begin to trust in the Lord?  Will you accept the challenge to be still and watch Him fight the fear you face today? 

in HIM,

If you enjoyed this, you will love these posts:

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• Can I Trust THE LORD in the Storm of Life to Be Still?