How To Finally Start Trusting God, After You’ve Tried Everything Else Secrets To Trusting God Revealed: Here's What You Need To Know

Jun P. Espina         17 min read

Updated on October 27th, 2022

Trust God With All Your Heart and Take Refuge in Him

In Psalm 34:8, we find God continually inviting us to His boundless love and grace. “O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” Making God your shelter in this life has an added incentive of blessedness. The “Lord is good” if you just decide to “taste and see” the experience. Trusting God with all your heart and taking refuge in Him by faith opens the door to heaven’s blessings.

This inwardness, which we venture to call a faith experience, only develops after hearing and meditating upon God’s blessed promises. “For this reason,” wrote the apostle Paul, “we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.” (1 Thess. 2:13)

Trust in Jesus, therefore, is only possible if you hear the Word of God, the Word of Christ, where it performs “its work in you who believe.”

O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! —Psalm 34:8

READ MORE: God’s Word proves faith in Christ versus Bible Ignorance

Your Trust in the Lord With All Your Heart is Not Mere Believism

Taking refuge in God is something more than simply professing the Christian faith. It is not mere believism and faithful church attendance only during church anniversaries and parties.

It is true access to the divine shelter when you trust in the Lord with all your heart.

And it won’t happen without even just a little knowledge of the Bible about faith and trust, since “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Rom. 10:17)

We took the following commentary on Psalm 34:8 from The Treasury of David: ¹

Blessedness in the Lord is Not About the Lord’s Material Wealth

Why is it, you may ask, that true Christianity is identified with poverty most of the time? Most pastors are poor. Where is the blessedness promised for making God your Cover or Refuge?

“How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”

How blessed are you if you trust in the Lord with all your heart? Well, I don’t believe that blessedness here means you have an ATM from Christ, akin to the modern mega church’s so-called prosperity gospel.

Blessedness in the Lord means peace and joy in the heart. Psalm 34:7 states, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.” Is it not a blessed life when God’s angel is always by your side to help you and provide you with a sense of security?

Why is it, you may ask, that true Christianity is identified with poverty most of the time? Most pastors are poor.

David Said, The Lord Delivered Him from All His Fears

Let us try to examine Psalm 34:8 contextually by studying the other related verses and the circumstances present when the Scripture was written (by David). The heading of Psalm 34 of the New American Standard Bible (NASB) has the following caption:

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Hold in mind that Psalm 34 was written during the height of David’s hiding from one place to another, away from King Saul who sought to kill him. (1 Sam. 21) God helped him out of his ordeal.

Hence, in verse one, he said: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” He added in verses 2-6, “My soul will make its boast in the Lord… O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears.”

Trust God With All Your Heart to Find Favor With Him

In the course of David’s nightmare, he feigned insanity before King Achish of Gath. Observe 1 Samuel 21:11-13:

David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. “So he disguised his sanity before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard.”

Given this predicament, David continued to find favor with God. Now it is clear why did he say: “O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” (Ps. 34:8)

READ MORE: Faith Builds the Person, Saves a Miserable Life

In David’s case, trusting God sincerely was formed out of his persistent death-threat experience from no less than the King of Israel. (What about his fear of death when he faced Goliath?)

Sinfulness Versus Trust in the Lord With All Your Heart

How to trust God with all your heart—sincerely? The word “sincere” came “from the Latin sine = without, cera = wax,” or without wax, or a sine cera contract of not covering the flaws of any sculptured work “with wax to deceive the viewer.” [en.wikipedia.org] ²

It means, from the viewpoint of sine cera, that trusting God sincerely is not possible without His intervention. Put differently, I cannot rely on Him for everything without the Holy Spirit teaching and helping me to do so. Remember when Christ said, “[F]or apart from Me you can do nothing.”

But our natural sinfulness bars us to trust in Jesus.

Our natural defiance of the God of the Bible is evident in our daily violations of His laws, whether by commission or omission.

Newspaper headlines are proof that we are under the power of sin. Before the Almighty, we are nothing but a piece of dirt—so unholy and so sinful!

I cannot rely on Him for everything without the Holy Spirit teaching and helping me to do so.

We Need the Holy Spirit to Trust in Jesus

Trusting God genuinely, may I say it again, is impossible without His help.

Wrote the apostle Paul: “[R]emember that you were at that time separate from Christ… having no hope and without God in the world.” (Eph. 2:12)

In Romans 8:9, Paul also said that “the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

In sum, the apostle Paul tells us that without the Spirit of Christ in our souls, we are without God. In Galatians 2:20, Paul said, “Christ lives in me.” Trusting God sincerely as a non-Christian is impossible since you will never trust someone (God or your wife) who is a stranger to you.

READ MORE: Divorce Answers Bad Marriage

We Have a Broken Relationship With Our Father God Because of Sin

The prophet Isaiah saw our relationship as a broken union or friendship because of sin. We are separated from the Father in heaven, and only Christ can mend this schism since He is our Mediator and the Only Way to the Father.

The Prophet wrote, “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.” (Is. 59:2, NLT)

“O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him,” David said. But you won’t trust God sincerely and take refuge in Him the way David did since you don’t have David’s faith and close relationship with the heavenly Father.

Luke wrote, David was the man after God’s own heart.” (cf. Acts 13:22) David killed Goliath through the power of God, who was always abiding with him.

He was a chosen man of God to be king of Israel—we are not!

Trusting God Sincerely is Possible only with God’s Help

Christ taught that “if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.” (Matt. 6:23)

Christ expanded His doctrine in Matthew 15:14, saying, “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

As Christ stretched on His teaching about man’s darkness or lost condition before God, He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see God’s kingdom.” (John 3:3)

READ MORE: Spiritual Rebirth Essential: Christ’s Spirit Dwells

Let us circle back to what David wrote, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”

It was an invitation, right? He encouraged us to try to experience God as he was “a man after my own heart” —the chosen one to be King of Israel (Acts 13:22). God was with him everywhere he went.

But we are not like him—if we are not born of God or born again! We need God’s Spirit to guide us to take refuge in our Creator.

David was a Believer and Trusted God With All His Heart

We need to be born of the Spirit (cf. John 3:6) before we can start trusting God honestly. Judas Iscariot was always with Christ, but he did not trust in Jesus the way Paul trusted our Lord.

After removing King Saul, God made David king. One reason was that God had “found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” (Acts 13:22)

David was a believer and trusted God with all his heart.

The Thief on the Cross Believed Before Experiencing God’s Goodness

What about the thief who was crucified with Christ? Well, we can see his trust in Jesus by examining his words. He said, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” (Luke 23:42)

The thief knew Christ was dying like him, but he believed Jesus was no ordinary person. He believed in Christ’s word that He had a kingdom as “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

He believed Christ would rise again to reign in His kingdom. “Remember me,” he said. Because the thief believed in life after death through the Son of God, Christ saved him.

“And He [Christ] said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.’” (Luke 23:43)

The thief tasted and saw that the Lord was good; he went to Paradise a forgiven and blessed man since he took refuge in Jesus Christ by believing.

Because of Unbelief the Other Thief Went to Hell Without Tasting the Goodness of the Lord

The other thief (there were two thieves crucified with Christ) learned of Christ (just like his saved companion), but he rejected Jesus. He rejected the claims of Christ that He was the Son of God who came down to earth to offer humanity forgiveness by believing in His shed blood.

Instead of trusting God sincerely, he said, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”

The light of this man was darkness (and how great was his darkness!). He went to hell while facing Christ, the only Light, and Savior of the world since he chose NOT to believe.

Trusting God truly means believing in Christ, who is God the Son, with all your heart.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”

Steve Jobs Never Mentioned His Trust in Jesus in His Last Words

Steve Jobs was an inventor and co-founder of Apple, Inc. We learned from his biography that “Jobs and Wozniak are credited with revolutionizing the computer industry by democratizing the technology and making machines smaller, cheaper, intuitive and accessible to everyday consumers.”

He was one of the most brilliant minds in the computer industry. I listened to his “last words” first published by RealLifeGains YouTube Channel. Then, I transcribed it as I couldn’t find a printed transcript of it after googling it a couple of times.

Such a record is priceless, just like the other speeches by Jobs. But his last words are more exceptional.

I couldn’t forget this one sentence from his last message before his death: “Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me.”

Steve Jobs was a genius, in my opinion. But trusting God sincerely was not visible in his last words.

One reason is that he didn’t care to mention our Lord Jesus Christ. Was he a born-again Christian? The Holy Scriptures teach us that trusting God truly is only possible through trusting in Jesus with all your heart. (cf. John 14:6) Study the following:

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David Spoke About God’s Goodness to Those Who Take Shelter in Him by Faith

In Psalm 34, we noticed David’s persistent prayer that God would help and save him from the resolute drive of King Saul to kill him. In verses 4, 6 to 7, he said:

In other words, David prayed and then God answered him. That is why in verse eight, his mood changed from pleading to praising—from prayer to assurance of God’s answer and the sharing of the truth about God’s goodness to those who take shelter in Him by faith. Hence, he said,

To Those Who Fear the Lord There is No Want

Again, we want to stress that David’s experience as a fugitive happened after he became a child of God (the man after God’s own heart!) since it occurred after God appointed him to kill the giant, Goliath.

This scripture, Psalm 34, therefore, was basically intended for those who fear the Lord and who are already saints (or those already sanctified for having believed).

Thus, David addressed Psalm 34 to the saints (meaning those who are set apart, sanctified, or made holy; or born-again Christians (cf. John 3:3) in the lingo of the New Testament—See: 1 Cor. 1:2). Observe David’s use of the word “saints” in Psalm 34:9:

Genuine Trust in Jesus Happens Only With the Wooing of the Holy Spirit

I want to reiterate my point that trusting God with all your heart happens only through the guidance of the Lord’s Spirit and the Holy Scriptures. In Steve Jobs’ “last words,” for example, he touched about how to live on earth beyond wealth accumulation, which is a prized reminder to those who value riches and fame more than the love of their family.

All of Jobs’ wisdom about the wise management of life in this world excludes the Davidic admonition to take refuge in God (that means, trust in Jesus with all your heart).

Concerning God, Steve Jobs just said: “God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart—not the illusions brought out by wealth.”

Compared to David’s Psalm 34, Jobs lacked complete fear and dependence upon God on his sickbed, given the absolute possibility of his demise.

His thoughts couldn’t reach the spiritual expanse explored by those who are trusting God sincerely. Because he just said:

In contrast, here are the last words of Daniel Webster, a genuine Christian who depended on the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit—who was trusting God wholeheartedly:

Your Trust in the Lord With All Your Heart Involves Your Faith in the Word of God

In a nutshell, we find that trusting God sincerely, as with Daniel Webster, involves the aid of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, the Holy Bible. Without a meaningful and biblical conversion and relationship with Jesus Christ and His Spirit through faith (cf. John 3:3,14:6,16-17,21,23; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 10:17), we couldn’t talk about giving out all to God and Jesus Christ in our “last words” as with Steve Jobs.

Psalm 34 is composed of 22 verses (not just 10 as quoted above), and the word “Lord” is mentioned 16 times. Let’s try to understand David’s trusting God truthfully, since he had God’s Spirit—since he wrote this Scripture through the aid of God’s Spirit.

The bottom line is that trusting God with all your heart requires a saving relationship with God—also called the born-again or born-of-God experience.

Be Born Again First, Then Experience Trusting God Sincerely

What if you put your complete trust in the Lord right now, without first going through the Second Birth?

The short answer is that everything in David’s Psalm 34 (particularly verse 8) will apply to you if you truly trust in Jesus based on a belief system that comes from hearing the Word of God, the gospel. You will “taste and see that the Lord is good” and you will “take shelter in Him” (see Romans 10:17).

Psalm 34, however, will not apply to you if you believe in Jesus on an emotional whim, even without comprehending from the Holy Scriptures your reasons. Because you do not yet know our Lord by the standard of the born-again life, you will not seek His protection over the long term.

God is not yet your heavenly Father if you are not born again. (See John 8:44, 2 Corinthians 2:4, James 5:5.)

Trust in Jesus by the Standard of a Born-Again Experience

David was just urging the unbelievers to experience God when he exclaimed, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” (Ps. 34:8).

This invitation includes the second part of the verse which is to take “refuge in Him.”

He didn’t say that we would have blessedness outside of the shelter of God, but only if we take “refuge in Him.”

Judas Iscariot, for example, failed to “taste and see that the Lord is good” since he didn’t take refuge in Christ by faith.

I knew a man who loved to start a conversation with the phrase, “Our beloved God.” But he was a murderer, and never got caught.

The genuine born-again experience precedes all genuine types of friendship with God.

READ MORE: Second Birth Needed for Salvation

The Truth Behind God’s Goodness in Cornelius’s Case

With Cornelius (see Acts 10), he “tasted” God’s goodness before experiencing the Second Birth. What is this “goodness”?

Well, by sending the apostle Peter to Cornelius’ family under the direction of the Holy Spirit, our Lord saved Cornelius. It also happened with the Ethiopian eunuch. (See Acts 8:26-40.)

I had experienced God’s goodness before I became a born-again Christian. God is gracious and merciful and gives water to drink even to robbers.

Christian theologians call it “common grace”, in harmony with Christ’s teaching to “seek first the kingdom of God.”

David’s teaching in Psalm 34 was different since he was under the threat of death, as with a believer who runs to God for protection. Psalm 34 is about a believer, David, who made God his hiding place.

Your Trust in the Lord With All Your Heart Always Makes You Depend on Him

Trusting God with all your heart as a believer is a process we may term the principle of growth in the faith. It requires one to take refuge in God, and to have complete trust in Jesus for everything.

It calls one to surrender to God as a child of God through faith in Christ’s atoning blood.

“For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.” (1 Thess. 2:13)

Most of the Time, Our Trust in Jesus and Total Reliance on Him Don’t Go Hand in Hand

Your trust in the Lord with all your heart always makes you depend on Him. But it is not the case if you are not born again.

So, before trusting God sincerely, we need to understand first why we don’t trust Him naturally—without the help of the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures.

We taint our relationship with the living God by our natural inclination toward sin and disobedience to His commands.

Like Adam and Eve, we couldn’t stand before our most loving and holy Father God given the constant raids on our souls by our own guilty conscience.

When the first man, Adam, sinned against his loving Maker, the earth became, to use Billy Graham, “a planet in rebellion.”

Sin is always at the helm of every stage of human civilization. But God’s grace decrees that man’s salvation is going to be made possible for all.

Trust in Jesus is Made Easy After We Understand He Died for Our Sins

Our Heavenly Father gave us all we needed to help us find salvation from the folds of sin—and its hell-judgment! He established the nation of Israel, wrote the Holy Bible, and built His church—all to bear witness to Jesus Christ, His Son, who is our Lord and Savior.

He established the nation of Israel, wrote the Holy Bible, and built His church—all to bear witness to Jesus Christ, His Son, who is our Lord and Savior.

But the deceitfulness of sin, through its author, the devil, continues its grip on humans.

Behind all the tears of humankind lies sin’s brutal power. But, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more….” for in Christ “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” (Rom. 5:20; Eph. 1:7).

God’s goodness is unfathomable. Adam was created only after making his existence comfortably possible.

He sinned and so placed all humanity under condemnation. But God sent His Son Jesus to carry out a rescue operation.

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Our text says we need to trust or take refuge in God if we want to taste His goodness. But how to seek His protection?

Jesus said, “I am the Way to the Father. No one comes to the Father, but through Me” (cf. John 14:6).

It means that God’s shelter for us is only in Christ Jesus—by faith!

A self-styled atheist said he hated Christ. Years later, he looked very sick and hungry, but he persisted in his unbelief. By then, he chose death in hell rather than life in heaven. “He who does not believe has been judged already.”

God couldn’t save anyone outside of Christ. For Jesus is the Way; there is no salvation apart from Him (cf. Acts 4:12).

We Can Never “Taste and See that the Lord is Good” If We Don’t Take “Refuge in Him.”

We had a family friend who was a member of a Bible-preaching church. She was attending church regularly, like one who was so devoted to religion. But she was a fake believer.

One day, while doing business, she traveled with her friend, who was a real Christian, through a Muslim town known to have been a rebel-controlled municipality. Seeing the men having long firearms, the political climate being fearsome, she asked her friend: “Please pray… please pray.”

She asked for prayer since she didn’t know God and her religion failed to work for her. We can never “taste and see that the Lord is good” if we don’t take “refuge in Him.”