15 Bible Verses About Letting Go and Trusting God
This morning, I was startled to find the wood line painted grey. The bleak scene mirrored the state of my soul. Letting go and trusting God with my life felt nearly impossible. Opening, my Bible, I began copying a list of Bible verses about letting go and trusting God.
Bible Verses About Letting Go
Here are the Scriptures I listed. I also invite you to read to the end of today’s post for a free devotional eBook to help you let go and trust God.
15 Bible Verses About Letting Go and Trusting God
1. 2 Corinthians 9:8
“And God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that, always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed” (NASB).
We don’t always understand why God allows difficulties in our lives, but we can trust that he is always good.
When God permits difficulties and challenges, we can trust that he can also turn them around for good purposes.
Cling to this promise: God is able to give you all the grace you need. He is sufficient to provide for every need in your life. He will give you all you need to accomplish his will.
Ask him to help you let go of your desire for control and trust him.
2. Hebrews 13:5
“He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you.’”
We can trust God because he promises never to leave us.
Are you walking into a troubling situation today? God goes with you into the difficult circumstances in your workplace.
He is with you when your life at home is challenging.
He goes with you to the hospital, the cemetery, and the school building where your child is struggling.
Your loving Father will never leave you.
You can let go of your desire to orchestrate the perfect circumstances, and you can let go of your fears. God is with you. He will help you through whatever you face.
Furthermore, nothing will reach you without passing through his protective wings first.
3. Romans 8:28
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
God can turn around any situation and use it for your good and his glory.
Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave, and God used the evil act to later save Joseph’s entire family from starvation.
Paul was imprisoned, and his chains resulted in the salvation of the entire palace guard.
God hears our prayers and can use even the most horrific losses for good. You can let go because God can turn everything around for your good and his glory.
4. Romans 8:31
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
God is always for you.
Do you need the reminder that you are not alone—that someone is standing in your corner and has your back?
At times, we all feel alone and overlooked. Meanwhile, God never takes his eye off of his children.
God loves you, and he is for you.
5. Malachi 3:6
“I, the Lord, do not change.”
God never changes.
In a world of constant change, we can find peace in the fact that God never changes. His character is always the same. He is always trustworthy, loving, and good.
No matter what happens in your life, find peace in the truth that God is with you, and he hasn’t changed.
6. 1 John 4:8
“The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Everything God does is done in love.
God is the embodiment of love.
Perhaps the most powerful of these reasons to trust God is that God is always loving. His ways are not our ways, but he always acts in love.
7. Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans that I have for you, plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
God spoke these words to his people when they were captives in the foreign land of Babylon.
These words are true for his children today as well.
God’s plans for you are good. Your future is full of goodness and hope. Trust that you will see God’s goodness in the future even if your current circumstances are difficult.
8. Proverbs 3:5-6
“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 your paths straight.”
God wants to direct your paths.
He is inviting you to place your trust in him. When you do—relying on him instead of trying to make sense of your circumstances—he will direct your life. This is a promise you can count on. There is freedom in letting go and trusting God.
More Bible Verses About Letting Go and Trusting God
9. Isaiah 41:10
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.’
God is with you, and he will uphold you and give you strength.
You can endure this difficult time because you are not walking alone. Find comfort in the presence of God.
10. 1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
In difficult times, it’s easy for fear to get a foothold.
We don’t need to fear because God’s love is in us.
Ask God to help you rest in his love as he pushes out all fear during this time.
11. Psalm 23:4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
This verse reminds us that even in the darkest valleys, God is with us.
He comforts us and protects us. Nothing reaches us without passing through him first.
12. Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Rather than embracing anxious thoughts, God calls us to pray. When we do, his peace guards our hearts and minds.
Worrying creates the illusion of controlling life’s challenging situations; prayer actually makes an impact.
13. John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Before he ascended into heaven, Jesus promised peace to his followers. When our hearts are troubled, we can cling to this promise of peace.
14. 1 Peter 5:7
Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
In difficult times, God calls us to cast our anxieties and fears on him. Too often, I ruminate over fears and worries. Imagine how different our lives would be if we learned to cast our cares on him immediately!
15. Matthew 6:34
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Much of what we worry about never ends up happening. May we remember this as we aim to live present to our daily moments, not worrying about the future.
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If these Bible verses about letting go and trusting God blessed you, let’s now apply them to our lives.
Let’s Apply These Bible Verses About Letting Go to Our Lives
Later in the day, I took a walk beneath the naked arms of the maples, oaks, and sycamores.
I let my mind trace the footprints of a handful of recent disappointments—disappointments that felt far heavier than a dismal shift of seasons. I counted the losses, stared down some shattered dreams, and let the weight of a tough season settle heavily on my shoulders.
Letting Go and Trusting God
As I walked, I let myself face feelings of disappointment and discouragement.
The forest was silent.
I thought of the disciple Peter as I walked. After denying Jesus three times, Peter wept bitter tears. Most likely, Peter faced some tough days when he returned to his trade as a fisherman. Most likely, his heart ached as he looked back with regret.
Shortly after Peter’s betrayal, Jesus returned to the shoreline to reinstate Peter as they shared a meal. Three times, Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. Ultimately, Jesus restored Peter and commissioned him to lead others in the faith.
It seems Jesus knew something Peter did not know.
Jesus knew that Peter’s denials would bring to light a part of Peter’s heart that needed to change before he could lead others.
In the same way, Jesus knows the parts of our hearts that need to come into the light so that he can heal us. This process is often painful. He often uses trials, pain, and disappointment to purify our hearts.
Nothing purifies like the refining fire.
We like to quote Romans 8:28 and declare that God works all things together for good, but we often neglect the verse that comes next. The next verse tells us that God’s idea of “good” is shaping our hearts to look more like Jesus’ heart.
God Uses Trials to Shape Us Into Jesus’ Image
As I walked beneath the sycamores, I considered the troubles I’d faced throughout the past season. Suddenly, God’s good purpose became clear: God is using discomfort to bring the impurities in my heart into the light. When these impurities come into the light, they can be removed.
Friend, your heavenly Father wants to speak truth into your discouraging circumstances as well.
He is calling you to face your pain instead of running from it because running from your pain might be the very behavior that is continually blocking you from your breakthrough. No matter what you are facing today, God wants to use it for his good purposes.
Let’s look at four ways God works all things together for good in our lives. Perhaps these truths will help you see what God is doing in your life when your circumstances don’t make sense. Then, we’ll explore eight reasons to trust God in life’s trials.
Letting God and Trusting God: 4 Reasons for Trials
1. God uses difficulties to point us to our unchanging source of hope.
When we live with hope based on pleasant circumstances, our hope is bound to falter through life’s difficult seasons.
Difficulties remind us to put our hope in Jesus—the One who has promised never to leave us.
Throughout the darkest valleys of my life, I have learned to speak these words: “My hope is not in getting to the other side of this valley. My hope is in the One who has promised to walk with me each step of the way.”
“My hope is not in getting to the other side of this valley. My hope is in the One who has promised to walk with me each step of the way.” #hope Share on X2. Tough times lead us to the unchanging part of our identities.
I’ve been known to come unglued when life goes off the rails. Not long ago, a friend gently asked me, “Stacey, are you stressed out because you’ve put too much worth in how this turns out?”
I realized that I was finding my identity through my performance again.
God wants us to find our identities in the only truth about us that can never change: We are his beloved children.
This can never be taken away from us.
Difficult times have a way of showing us where we have anchored our identities on shifting sands. God is calling us to plant our feet on the foundation of his love for us.
3. God uses trials to shift our priorities.
God often uses painful circumstances to draw us back to his first two commands: Love God and love others (see Luke 10:27).
We are meant to live our lives loving God and loving others.
Our disappointments often tear down idols like success, perfectionism, and even unhealthy dependence upon relationships. God uses our disappointments to remind us of what matters most in our lives.
4. Struggles teach us about dependence.
When life is rolling along smoothly, we begin to believe we can make it on our own.
We’re prone to turn away from God and turn toward independence.
Painful seasons remind us of our desperation to lean on the One who guides our paths and carries us through the rivers and the fires of life.
Trusting God in Tough Times
I walk through the autumn forest until darkness comes. When I return to the house, I wish I could say that my heart feels lighter.
It doesn’t. Letting go and trusting God is a process, and it doesn’t come easily.
Facing my disappointment head-on is harder than pushing the pain aside and barreling forward with both eyes on the horizon. However, it’s also well worth every painful step of the journey.
I know that God is calling me to keep pressing forward. This is true for you today, too, friend. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. God is working in your life. He is preparing you for a future calling that will crush you if you don’t build the stamina needed to face it.
~~~
If these Bible verses about letting go encouraged you, I invite you to explore our family devotionals and free devotional books below!
Calling All Parents and Grandparents!
As the parent of two sons and a daughter, I have a heart for helping parents develop deeper relationships with their children and with God. Our kids, ages 6, 11, and 15, share this vision. They have helped me write three family devotionals for parents or older relatives to read with the children and teens they love. You can find all three books here or read more below.
Attention All Boy Moms (and Dads)!
God’s Warrior: Devotions for Boys Who Want to Grow in Courage and Strength helps young boys, ages 5-13, learn what it means to trust God and become strong warriors for his kingdom. Now, more than ever, our world needs men who are willing to boldly carry God’s love into the world. I wrote this boys’ devotional book with our two young sons, Aiden and Caleb, ages six and eleven! You’ll enjoy their honesty as we teach boys how to be strong warriors for the Lord. Find this life-changing devotional book here.
Mother-Daughter Devotionals by a Mom and Daughter
Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith is written for girls ages 7-12. It includes 60 devotions with Scripture, conversation starters, and a shared journaling section for moms and daughters after each devotion. I wrote this book with the help of our daughter, Bekah, when she was eleven. Find this one-of-a-kind shared devotional here.
Heart to Heart: A Mother-Daughter Devotional With 50 Devotions for Teen Girls is for teenage girls ages 13-20. It includes 50 devotions, each with a shared journaling section to help moms and daughters connect through writing. This is a great book for moms who want to communicate about awkward topics—like dating, sexuality, peer pressure, and more—but don’t know where to start. Bekah and I will help you right here.
Find Our Family Devotionals Here
Find all three books right here. They are also free on the Kindle Unlimited plan, which you can enjoy with a free three-month trial! These books make great gifts, and you don’t need to be the parent of young children to read them. Share them with your grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or the young ones you love.
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A Free Devotional Filled With Bible Verses About Letting Go and Trusting God
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