How to Trust God in Hard Times: What Losing My Business Taught Me

Sometimes the Lord exposes what we really trust, not by giving us more, but by taking away something we thought we could never live without.

For years, I was proud of being independent. I worked hard, made plans, started businesses, and assumed I could steer my life in the right direction. I called myself a Christian, and I knew enough theology to talk about trusting God. But there is a difference between talking about faith and living by it.

When the pandemic brought my business to its knees, I discovered that difference in a very personal way. This is not a story about God making me rich again. It is about learning to be content with what He provides, to honour Him in ordinary work, and to remember what matters most.

Consider Your Ways: The Warning I Needed

One of the writings that made me look at my life differently was J. C. Ryle’s Consider Your Ways. Ryle takes his title from Haggai 1:7 and calls professing Christians to examine their spiritual condition honestly.

The original setting of Haggai is important. God's people had returned from exile, but the rebuilding of His temple was neglected while they concentrated on their own homes. The prophet told them to examine their priorities. That passage was not written as a promise that my business would succeed. It was a warning about letting other things take the place that belongs to God.

Ryle also challenged a dangerous habit I recognized in myself: admiring serious Christians while making excuses for my own lack of devotion. I could talk about faith, but it was far too easy to live as though my work, plans and income mattered more than communion with Christ.

I needed to hear that. Not because starting a business is wrong, but because even something good can become an idol when it begins to rule the heart.

When Self-Reliance Became My Religion

For more than a decade I wore independence like a badge of honour. I liked building things, solving problems and being the fellow who could work everything out for himself. Some ventures went well. Others did not. And strangely enough, I often failed to appreciate the good things God had already given me.

My prayers could be sincere, but my daily decisions told another story. I depended on my own strength. I was quick to worry when a plan went wrong and slow to thank the Lord when something went right.

If you have ever wondered how to trust God completely, you may know the same struggle. It is easy to say we trust Him while the bills are paid and our plans seem secure. The harder question is whether we still trust Him when we cannot see what comes next.

Trusting God When Life Falls Apart

Then came a season I never would have chosen. The pandemic battered the economy, and the business into which I had poured years of effort collapsed. It was painful to watch something I had worked so hard to build slip away.

A business failure does more than hurt a bank account. It can wound your pride. It can make you question your ability, your judgment and even your worth. I had built a picture of what I thought my life ought to look like, and that picture was falling apart.

Yet I can look back on that season with gratitude—not because losing the business was pleasant, but because it forced me to examine what I had been leaning on. The Lord had not promised to spare me every difficulty. He had promised that His grace was sufficient.

Paul was not told that his weakness would simply disappear. He was taught to depend on the Lord in the midst of it. That distinction matters. God's grace in difficult times does not necessarily mean that trouble ends quickly. Sometimes it means that we are sustained through trouble we cannot fix.

The Gift That Changed My Perspective

At about the same period, I became a father. Suddenly the question was not just, “What can I accomplish?” but, “What kind of husband, father and Christian am I becoming?”

There is nothing wrong with earning a living. Scripture plainly teaches us to work, provide and care for our households. But my child helped me see how easily I had confused a successful business with a successful life.

What good would it do to build a flourishing company if I neglected my family or allowed my heart to grow cold toward Christ?

I began to see blessings I had once overlooked. Time with my family. Honest work. The ability to open my Bible. The opportunity to serve people. These gifts were not small simply because they could not be measured in dollars.

Back to Work—and Yes, Sometimes Cleaning Toilets

After the business fell apart, I needed work. I considered returning to truck driving, something I had done years earlier. I had not expected to go back down that road.

Eventually I found a position involving trucks that, at the time, worked out to about three days a week. It left room for family life and for working on my own projects at home. What I had feared might be a step backward became an opportunity to learn.

And yes, some of the work involved jobs that people look down on, including cleaning toilets. I do not mention that to make myself sound noble. I mention it because pride is a strange thing. We can talk about humility on Sunday and then act as if honest labour is beneath us on Monday.

Colossians 3:23 reminds Christians to work heartily as unto the Lord. That applies whether a man is preaching behind a pulpit, repairing a truck, running a business, or scrubbing a floor.

The new job also brought me into regular contact with people who did not share my faith. Knowing doctrine in the comfort of familiar company is one thing. Living patiently, speaking truthfully and behaving graciously around people who disagree with you is another.

I had been given another opportunity to put into practice what I claimed to believe.

Bible Verses About Trusting God in Hard Times

These passages have helped me think through what it means to trust God when my own plans fail. They are not a collection of promises that every business will recover or every problem will disappear. They direct us to the character and purposes of God.

• Proverbs 3:5–6 — Trust beyond your own understandingTrust in the Lord with all your heart rather than depending on your own understanding. Our knowledge is limited; His wisdom is not.
• 2 Corinthians 12:9 — Grace is sufficient in weaknessPaul learned that the Lord's strength was displayed through weakness. We do not have to pretend to be self-sufficient.
• James 4:13–15 — Make plans with humilityJames warns those who speak as though tomorrow belongs to them. We may plan faithfully, but we must remember, “If the Lord will.”
• Romans 8:28 — God's purposes are not wastedGod works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. In context, that good includes being conformed to Christ—not simply getting the outcome we wanted.
• Haggai 1:7 — Examine your priorities“Consider your ways” calls us to think seriously about what we put first. The original passage addressed Israel's neglect of the temple; its warning still challenges my own misplaced priorities.

What Does Trusting God Look Like in Everyday Life?

For me, trusting God has become less about dramatic declarations and more about daily obedience. I still have responsibilities. Bills still need paying. Work still needs doing. But I have learned that my peace cannot rest on whether every plan succeeds.

1. Pray before assuming you can solve everything. Dependence on God should not be the last resort after every other idea fails.
2. Do the work in front of you faithfully. Humility is tested in ordinary tasks, not just in grand intentions.
3. Thank God for blessings you once ignored. A family, a job, and a chance to serve can be precious gifts.
4. Measure success by more than money. Provision matters, but so do holiness, love, integrity and perseverance.
5. Stay close to Christ in success and in failure. A full wallet is not proof of God's approval, and an empty one is not proof that He has abandoned you.

I Would Not Have Chosen This Road

If you had asked me years ago whether losing a business and returning to ordinary labour would teach me something valuable, I probably would have laughed. I was too busy dreaming of where I thought I was going.

But God used that season to uncover a problem I had not wanted to admit: I knew how to talk about trusting Him, while quietly leaning on myself.

I am not writing as someone who has arrived. I still have much to learn. My hope is that another Christian reading this—perhaps someone who has lost a job, watched a business fail, or found life moving in an unwelcome direction—will be encouraged to examine what he is trusting.

J. C. Ryle's words still press upon me: Consider your ways. Don't wait for the next crisis to take a serious look at your walk with Christ.

So, as the old saying goes, we must not merely talk the talk. We must walk the walk—and keep our eyes upon Christ while we do it.

Illustrations on this page depict themes from the account; they are not documentary photographs of the author or his family.