How to Trusting God In Hard Seasons (when you feel uncovered) | Season 9 Ep 9

When the holiday laughter fades and the room gets quiet again, the old aches return: bills, diagnoses, strained friendships, the gnawing sense that you’re pushing hard and sliding back. We go there with Psalm 31 and let David show us how to live honestly in the tension—naming pain without pretending and trusting God without numbing.

We start with the emotional drop that follows celebration and move into David’s raw inventory of grief, loneliness, and exhaustion. Then we ask the question that holds the whole episode together: what does courage look like when the circumstances won’t budge? Psalm 31 offers a clear path. Tell the truth about where you are. Refuse the shortcut of denial. Put your weight on the God who doesn’t change when everything else does. We explore how trust is not a feeling but a practice—casting cares, choosing prayer over panic, and returning to the shelter of God’s presence.

You’ll also hear a personal story from repeated hospital stays during a high‑risk pregnancy and the line that reshaped everything: if God wanted me out, I would be out; since I’m still in it, He’s in it with me. That perspective doesn’t erase pain, but it anchors the heart.  By the end, we leave you with a simple refrain to carry through the week: you are covered—behind, before, and beside.

If this encouraged you, follow the show, share it with someone who needs courage today, and leave a quick review so others can find it. What’s one burden you’ll name—and trust God with—this week?

Transcript

Welcome And Setting The Tone

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey all, thank you for joining us here at Grab the Faith, where we try to grab the faith and run with it. Join us as we try to learn a little more, grow a little more, and live a lot more. I'm your host, Bobby Gentry Goodwin. Stay tuned for this week's episode. Good morning. Good morning. It's Bobby here with our Wednesday word of the day. Thank you so much for joining me on this Wednesday morning. It is early here, and we are coming just to edify the word of the Lord. Are you here to hear that? But today we have an incredible word. You know, the Lord, He took me back to the book of Psalms and in a different capacity. So I'm here to share that with you and see what we can glean, right? What we can glean, you know, there's the eat kind of dance move everybody doing. What can we eat today from the Word of God? I hope that you all are well, that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Spending time with family, spending time with friends, with chosen family, because that's always good. It's just good for the soul to be able to spend time with those that you love, those that you care about, and those that care about you. It's a place where we often feel comfortable, we feel well loved, and it feels good. You know, it feels good to be in a place around people in your life where you feel like you are covered, that people know you, that they are for you, and that they want you in their lives. So, truth be told, many of us spent that day in a wonderful place with our families. But that was just one day. Sometimes we have to go right back to the emotions, the feelings, and the situations that we're in. We can go and have a day of howdy howdy, but then we end up right back in that place, right back in sadness and overwhelm and just not feeling our best, feeling frustrated, lonely, sad. You know, we could be around family and smile that day, but sometimes we find ourselves those very next days in a place that we left. We just didn't feel good in those in that season. Because some of us really are in a hard place. We're in a season of hard things, a season of grief, a season of despair, a season of overwhelm, a place that just don't feel good and safe, financial challenges, job challenges, so many things going on for people in general, not just the people of God, people in general. Just, you know, last time we were discussing a place of praise, right? If we went to a psalm that really just edified the Lord and edified our place of praise. But this psalm that the Lord, I feel, brought me to was the exact opposite. Really taking stock of the struggle that we can be in sometimes, the struggle that sometimes exists in our lives. So let's go up before the word, let's go before the Lord in prayer, and then we will dive into this psalm as we study this word of God. Father, we thank you. We thank you that in whatever season that we're in, you're in it too. You're in it with us, Father. We are never alone in you. We thank you for your presence, your ever-present help in the time of trouble. Lord, you are a need meter, and your word says to cast our cares on you because you care for us. And when I think about casting, I think about fishing, you just throwing it out there, seeing what you can catch, you just throwing it out there and not knowing if it will bring forth a harvest. But Lord, we know if we cast it before you, if we throw our problems to you and throw our heartaches to you and throw our suffering to you, that you will meet us there. And not only will you meet us there, but you will help us, Lord. Oh, I think about the fiery furnace, that they just wasn't in there alone, that it was four of them in there, not just the three, Lord. Your very presence was right there with them, Lord. We thank you for your presence in our lives. Even in good times and in hard times, Lord, you are there, Lord. We thank you for just being there with us, Lord God, caring for us, loving us. You are mighty good God. And we come to give you praise this morning. On this Wednesday, we come to give you glory. Now, Lord, teach us, teach us your word, Lord God, that we may be strengthening you, Lord God. Reading this word of God is like lifting weights. The more reps we do, the stronger we'll get, Lord. So teach us in this hour. In Jesus' name, we do pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. So here we go. Last time, as I mentioned, we were rejoicing in this book of songs. But this time, honey, we're talking about struggle. Anyone want to learn in their struggle? You know, we don't want to just struggle to struggle. We want to take some things from it. You know, even as an African American, our ancestors learned from their struggle, honey. They learned how to make pig feet, okay? They learn how to make oxygen. They learn to take the scraps and make it into something delicious. Listen, we want to be in a space where when we are struggling, we're able to walk away with some things, glean some things from that struggle, that we can walk out and testify not only of God's goodness, but how he brought us through the things that we learned. And David in this psalm, he is testifying to his struggle. God put this very word in there that we may know that there's some things we can learn. So listen, we're gonna be counting today in Psalms 31. So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab it. Psalms 31. Because listen, we all have seasons, seasons of good times and seasons of challenging times, seasons that come and seasons that go. But even through all of our seasons and all of the changes that is on the horizon, listen, God remains the same. He remains the same. Whether we're in winter, God is the same. Whether we're in summer, God is the same. We can learn from those very seasons that come around every year, the consistency of our God, of our creator, He remains the same. We're thankful for that this morning. I don't know if you are, but I am so thankful for that because I know that I have changed. And I know that I haven't stood as I needed to stand. I know that I haven't been faithful. I haven't done all the things that I needed to do. But oh my God, when I turned to him, he has remained faithful. He has done what he said he would do, he has remained unchanging. I can always lean to the unchanging hand of the Lord. So come on, let's couch in book Psalms 31. We're gonna go to verse 1 and then we're gonna read 19 through 24. This is our chosen text today. So 31 says this I excuse me, in you, oh Lord, I put my trust. I'm gonna say that again. Oh, that encouraged my spirit. I hope it encourages yours. In you, oh Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in your righteousness. Not my righteousness, your righteousness. Oh, how great is your goodness. We're picking up in 19. Oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you, in the presence of the Son of Men, you shall hide them in the secret place of your presence from the plots of men, you shall keep them secretly in a pavilion, from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for he has shown me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said, in my haste, I am cut off from before your eyes. Nevertheless, don't you love that, nevertheless? Nevertheless, you heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to you, Oh, love the Lord, all you his saints, for the Lord preserves the faithful and fully replays the plowed person, but he pays back in full those arrogant enough to go it alone. That's what the message says in verse 23. I'm reading it twice. The message says, but he pays back in full those arrogant enough to go it alone. But verse 23 at the top says, Oh, love the Lord all you his saints, for the Lord preserves the faithful. You see the shift there? Be of good courage, verse 24, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Oh, that's some good reading. Psalms 31 is a good text, y'all, because it is reflective of David in a challenging time. He recalls a time that is challenging for him. He was under oppression in this psalm, and what he is speaking is reflective of his experience. He expects now, if you read this whole psalm, he expresses his feelings clear. He talks about how he's sad, how he feels isolated and alone, how he's tearful, how he's frustrated, how he's overwhelmed by this oppression, how the attack and the mummy voices of his enemies, even hatred from his friends, avoidance from his friends, or even those who are plotting against him has made him feel he's been abandoned by his friends. And you listen, he even talks about if he feels like he doesn't have any strength left, he's exhausted, y'all. Exhausted by the struggle. He even says he feels like he will die from his grief. Oh, David is going through a hard time. Anybody ever feel so burdened down that they feel like they don't have no strength left? They've given it all that they could. They kept showing up and showing up and showing up and keep getting beat up every single time. They keep trying and trying and pushing for it and pushing for it just to take two steps back, just to feel like everything I do is just not working. That's where David is. This brother is having a tough time. He's going through it. And you know what I learned in this Bible study that I want to share with you. If you remember the last time, if you can bring it to your recollection, the last time you felt the struggle, even though you're maybe even in it now, that all things were stacked against you. David wants us to know, he wants us to glean some things. And the first thing I learned about this in this text is how transparent he is. He's laying it all out. He's telling it like it is. He's not sugarcoating nothing. He's saying, I'm sad. I yeah, I love the Lord. Yes, I trust him, but I'm sad. I love the Lord. And yeah, I trust him, but I'm overwhelmed. I'm I'm sad. I love the Lord, but I'm frustrated. He's letting it out just like it is. He's standing transparent before God, telling the truth. And listen, that spoke to me because I want to say the truth is, you know, sometimes we struggle with standing in our truth. Sometimes we people tell us, hey, how you doing? And we say, I'm fine. Knowing we're gonna get to that car and cry, knowing we're gonna get to our home and fall apart. We don't even want to go home because it's so bad. But David is standing in truth, he's standing and telling his truth before the Lord. He's not faking it, he's not being phony about it, he's telling it in his truth. He has the courage to say, I ain't good. He's saying, I'm I'm really doing bad. I really feel this way. I trust God, but I really feel this way. Listen, y'all, you can't heal what you don't feel. You don't, you can't change sometimes what you don't communicate or what you don't confess. And I'm not talking to other people, I'm talking about to yourself. You got to be truthful to yourself. You can't just lay your hand on the pillow and lie to yourself every day. It's important to remain truthful, not just I'm not talking to other people, but to yourself and above all, to your God. Even this was modeled back in Genesis. I'm not making it up. Adam screwed up, and God asked him a very important question. He asked him, he said, Adam, where are you? God knew where Adam was. Why did God ask Adam that question? He asked Adam, he asked Adam, hey Adam, where are you? After he said, He wanted Adam to know. He wanted Adam to reflect, Adam to acknowledge where he was. God knew where Adam was, but he asked Adam so Adam could take stock of where he was. Take stock of where you really are, take stock of what your heart posture is, what your heart language is saying. Take part, take stock of what you really feel because your feelings are important, and once you acknowledge it, take it to the Lord. See, David was in a tough place. But number two, the thing I learned about this, not only did he tell the truth, but he didn't forget where his help came from. He didn't go to pills, he didn't go to the bottle, he didn't go to his friends, he didn't go and uh avoid things, he went straight to his God from the very start of this psalm. He says, In you, oh Lord, I put my trust. I don't put my trust in how I feel, I don't put my trust in my friends, I put my trust in you. David says it three times in this psalm. I trust in God. Y'all know that song. I trust in God, my savior, the one he shall never fail. I may fail, but he shall never fail. He puts his trust in God. Listen, it's so important. I'm sad, I acknowledge it, but I trust. I'm grieving. I lost someone, but I trust. I feel alone. It felt bad when I got that diagnosis, it felt bad when I got divorced and my husband left me or my wife. It felt bad, but I trust. Still, I trust. David certifies no matter what he's going through, he's trusting God. Don't put your faith in anything else but the Lord. Don't just say it, do it. Put your trust in him. That's a whole word. Oh my God. Because when you're sad, do you trust? When you're burdened, do you trust? When you're overwhelmed, do you trust? Do you try to fix it or you let him fix it? I'm going on now. I'm trying to come to an end. Don't minimize your pain. Speak it out, but trust in the Lord. Okay, so I'm I'm wrapping up here because we already past time. I want to stay on here 15 minutes. But I I just want to testify. When I was sick in a hospital, my doctor came in and said, Whoo, you could have died. I'm surprised you're still here. That's what the doctor said. I'm pregnant at the time, and that's what the doctor said. And no matter what I tried, back in the hospital, I tried the treatment plan back in the hospital. I tried the medication back in the hospital. I tried everything the doctor said, back in the hospital. No matter what I did, back in the hospital, the treatment plan just wasn't working in the hospital, out the hospital, time after time, time after time again. Two weeks in the hospital, two weeks at home, back and forth, back and forth. During that time, it was a season I was pregnant, y'all. Tough season. And I wasn't good at trusting. I was good at complaining. Why is this happening to me? Why can't I get better? Why do I have to go through this? Everybody else has a good pregnancy. Why do I have to deal with this? But listen, my first lady in my church said something that rocked my world. She said something that changed my life. And this was 20 years ago. She reminded me that if God wanted me delivered from it, I would have been delivered. If God wanted me out of it, I would have been out of it. He could have the power to change it just like that. So I although I was going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, God knew where I was. I learned that if I still was in it, he knew it and he allowed it, but I had to trust him in it. Listen, y'all, hear this clearly. Sometimes we won't get out of the situation. Sometimes we just gotta walk through it. But I want to reassure you today, we don't walk through it alone. See, David at the end of this song presents God's highlight reel. He presents the one, what I call the one-two punch. He knows that God's goodness, one punch, is stored up, second punch. God lavishes blessing, one punch, on those who come to him, another punch. He hides his people in the shelter of his presence. He shows his unfailing love and provides safety. He hears our cry, but yet he answers them. With God, we ain't never counted out. We got to fight back with our trust in him. Because listen, our hope is in the Lord. So I say all of this to say, what's the Wednesday word of the day? The word of the week. The Wednesday word of the week is you covered. You covered, Saint. We got an insurance policy. We may get into accident, but we got somebody we can call that can fix it. We covered. So as you walk throughout your week and you're fighting back with that one two-punch, don't you forget that behind you, in front of you, and on the side of you is a strong tower. You are covered in the Lord. May He bless you and may He keep you.

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Thank you for today.