Trusting God Prayer When You're Asking God Why He Let Things Happen

This “Trusting God Prayer” can help you when you’re feeling angry and frustrated that God allowed things to happen to you or to those you love and you you are asking God why.

There have been several situations in my life that the question of, “Why did God let this happen?” came to mind such as: a friend committing suicide, and a friend turning to drugs.

Most recently the question of asking God why He let things happen arose when I began to experience one health issue after another. Some of them resolved, some of them are chronic and will be a lifetime struggle and others have been life threatening. Prayer has helped me grapple with the question of why and I share this prayer with you as you too seek to trust God.

Trusting God Prayer When You’re Asking God Why He Let Things Happen

Dear Lord,

You are holy and just. I have to know why You allowed this ( fill in with your situation) to happen to me. I am angry and frustrated with You that You allowed this to happen to me and I deserve to know why.

Lord, I have let my anger put my need to know why ahead of my relationship with you. But if you had not let this happen I would not be angry.

I realize that my anger places me in opposition with You. But I believe my anger is justified.

However, at the same time Lord, I don’t like being angry with you. My purpose is to love you and glorify you. You have forgiven me of my sins, which always hurt you.

You have forgiven me even before I have forgiven myself. Through Christ the anguish I should have endured for my sins was removed from me and taken by Him at the cross.

After all that You have done so that I can have the chance to know You, my question of why and my attitude that I am equal to challenge Your decision feels like an act of disrespect, ungratefulness and conceit.

Thank you for reminding me that my position in relation to You is not now and never will be Your equal. You have corrected my focus. I understand that I may ask why with a humble heart and I am ready to receive whatever answer You provide.

When I approach You with an attitude of gratefulness in my question of why I demonstrate my trust in You.

I no longer want to ask why as though I am demanding an answer because I think I have the right to know.

I don’t need to know why so I can determine for myself if what happened was appropriate and should have been allowed.

I don’t want to ever ask why because I think that You are only with me when You explain Yourself to me.

I trust in You without explanation as to why.

I am wrong to act as though You have withdrawn Your love from me if you don’t give me what I want. I know that Your love is unconditional.

I have difficulty expressing my gratitude that I am able to come to You in prayer, that I can ask anything that is in my heart and that You will answer.

I can even express my anger toward You and You lovingly show me Your will and Your way.

Thank you for helping me to see that it is not the question that creates obstacles in my relationship to You. Rather, it is the manner in which I present myself to You.

Lord, You have given and I have received the Holy Spirit. Please help me to be open to His counsel so I may continue to know You more and I may become the person You created me to be.

Lord, thank you also for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that He will intercede for me in prayer. He knows my heart better than I do.

At times, a child challenges their parents by asking why rather than trusting that their parent knows what is best for them. I have acted like that child adamantly demanding that I deserve to know why. Now I recognize that I am Your child and that You, God are the One in control.

If bad things happen I may yearn to know why but it is You who knows me best and it is You who made our relationship possible so if I don’t get the answer I want I will always receive the answer that is best for me and for that I am grateful.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit I pray.

Amen.

My Personal Experience using this trusting God prayer

I can comfortably say that most people I have met have experienced a least one situation in which they have been asking God why. I have to include myself in that group of people.

I mentioned earlier that the question of “Why?”arose recently when I began to experience one health issue after another. It seemed that if something started to get better I just had to wait a few months before a new and unexpected health issue would place my life on hold again.

Over a period of three years I had to stop working for as much as a year and a half. I was unable to drive, unable to care for myself, and unable to care for my home. My life was centered on my schedule of doctors’ appointments and procedures. I had to have someone do everything for me.

To this day do not know why I have had that experience but I know that God has been with me the entire time. I know He answered my prayer of “Why?”in a different way than I expected. He answered it by getting me to a place of acceptance and an eagerness for what comes next.

Here is how I learned to trusting in God instead of thinking I have to know why

Trust has to exist in a healthy relationship.

I have been thinking about how trust is something that must exist in a healthy relationship. Without trust people become angry when they don’t have the answer to why.

They think they need to know the answer in order to be safe or to judge for themselves if their situation is justified. The anger comes from fear of the unknown. Fear that I don’t have control over the situation because I don’t have all the information so I have to rely on someone else to keep me safe. I am not in control.

An example is when a child demands that their parent explain why they want the child to do something. The child becomes angry because when they believe they deserve to know all the details for what they are being asked to do.

As an adult, we sometimes act the same way as the child in our relationship with God. Things happen in life that we do not agree with and we cry out asking God why He may give us the answer to the question or He may not. And while we know that all He does or allows is what is best for us we may have trouble seeing His perspective because we don’t know all that He knows.

So, if we want to have a healthy relationship with God we have to trust Him. We have to go beyond knowing the scripture that tells us how much He cares —- to believing He cares with all our hearts.

Powerful reasons we can trust God

Why did you let this happen, Lord?

Think about how freeing it would be to trust God in everything. If we look at who God is He gives us every reason why we should trust Him. He is the creator of all, He is consistent, holy, free of sin, loves unconditionally, had His Son experience pain for my transgressions.

In spite of all that I have done that hurt Him, God extends His grace and mercy. He offers redemption so that I can come to Him in prayer. I have the opportunity to truly know Him. He offers me the chance to be guided by the Holy Spirit and be transformed so that one day I may be able to stand in the presence of God. I could never get there on my own.

He does all of this and so much more for me. So you would think trusting Him would come easy. But often, escaping from my fear becomes more important to me than my relationship with God. The absurd part is that I tell myself I trust God but my thoughts and actions demonstrate that I don’t trust Him. If I place my relationship with God first — place Him first —- then I would not be afraid.

Deciding whether asking God why is a want or a need?

I am the obstacle. Me thinking I can do this, I have got this, that no one will understand like I do, if God would tell me why then I can handle this but in every case and with every thought I see how I am not trusting Him. I am attempting to deal with the problem on my own and saying I could if only God would tell me what I need to know. I am blaming Him rather than trusting in Him.

I know God knows all, has given His Son for me and because He created me, He knows what is best for me.

God has never done anything to lose my trust. I have a hard time letting go of the want to know why. It is important for me to recognize that if God has not revealed the answer of why to me then the answer is a want. It is not a need. As I shift my thoughts so that why is no longer a demand I place before God, I must identify a new thought to replace the old one such as:

The answer to why is a want not a need.
I trust in the Lord, God almighty.
God knows what is best for me.
God did answer my question, “Why?”when He chose not to reveal the answer to me. For me, His silence means that the answer is beyond my ability to understand.
I never want my thoughts, words or actions to challenge God and become an obstacle in our relationship.
God gave me redemption so that I may know Him and receive all that He has planned for me. If the answer to why is not part of His plan then I don’t want to know.
God knows why so I don’t have to know. I just need to trust in Him.
If knowing why were a need then God would tell me because He meets all my needs.

These alternative thoughts change me from someone who is focused on what God has not given me to what God does provide. I shift to a grateful heart. I find myself humbled before God on my knees praying.

Bible verses for Trusting in God

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.

Psalm 118:8

The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

Psalm 28:7

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Isaiah 26:3-4

Trusting God Prayer When You’re Asking God Why He Let Things Happen

Trusting God Prayer When You’re Asking God Why He Let Things Happen

My Personal Experience using this trusting God prayer

Trust has to exist in a healthy relationship.

Powerful reasons we can trust God

Deciding whether asking God why is a want or a need?

Bible verses for Trusting in God

Other helpful articles

About Letitia Barnes