A mother was busy preparing lunch for her young daughter. The little girl came into the kitchen, stood on her tiptoes to try to see above the counter, and asked, “Mommy, what are you doing?” The mother answered, “I’m working.” Not being satisfied with that answer, the daughter asked again, “What are you doing?” The mother again replied, “I’m working.” This time with more frustration in her voice, the girl said, “But mommy, I can’t see what you are doing.” To that, the mother said, “I know — but you’re just going to have to trust me that I’m working for you.”

How many times in our lives could God say this same thing to us? We have questions. We are confused. We can’t see what He is doing. And so we ask Him, “Lord, what are you doing?” But we either get no reply or, at best, “I’m working.” That puts the squarely ball in our court. Will we trust Him during such times? Will we stick with Him, choosing to believe that He loves us even when the evidence seems to suggest otherwise? Or will we run off from Him, angry that He hasn’t given us the full answer that we desire?

Job had ten children and was the wealthiest man of the East until there came a day, a single day, in which his ten children were all killed in a tragic event and his enemies robbed him of his wealth (Job 1:1-19). Sometime shortly afterward Job’s body was struck from head to toe with painful oozing boils that caused him to have to sit and scrape himself with a broken piece of pottery (Job 2:1-8). Why did these things happen to Job? The Biblical story explains to the reader that it was all the result of God turning Job over to Satan for a while. At the time, however, Job himself wasn’t privy to this knowledge. Therefore, the only thing he could surmise was that God had done it all to him (Job 1:20-21; 2:9-10).

But in the wake of everything that had happened to him, Job made a remarkable statement. He said:

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him… (Job 13:15, N.K.J.V.)

Trust God even when we think He is the one who is killing us? Friend, that’s a level of trust that most people just can’t muster. It’s no wonder that God told Satan that there was none like Job on the face of the earth (Job 1:8). You see, God trusted how Job would respond to adversity because He knew how much Job trusted Him.

It could be that right now you are going through a difficult time. You have questions. You are confused. You want to know what God is doing. Like that little girl who wasn’t tall enough to see the kitchen counter plainly, you are frustrated because you can’t see God at work. Well, I guess what you must ask yourself is, “Will I trust God even when I don’t know what He is doing? Will I trust that He loves me? Will I trust that He knows what’s best for me? Will I trust that His wisdom is perfect and that His decisions are always the right ones?”

During such times you would do well to remember that you are dealing with a heavenly Father who loved you enough to send His Son to die to pay your sin debt so that you might believe in that Son and thereby have all your sins forgiven. That, friend, is how much you are loved. And it’s by looking at Jesus on the cross that you can know for a certainty that even when you can’t see God at work in your life, He really is working for you.