We are called to trust God at all times

Last week I was reading from a sermon by Saint Augustine entitled “On Pastors.” It is addressed to those who serve as pastors in the Church. In the portion I was reading, Saint Augustine was criticizing pastors who promise that the followers of Christ will enjoy earthly ease. He writes:
…you disregard what (St. Paul) says: ‘all who want to live a holy life in Christ will suffer persecution.” You say instead: “If you live a holy life in Christ, all good things will be yours in abundance…” Is this the way you build up a believer? Take note of what you are doing and where you are placing him. You have built him on sand. The rains will come, the river will overflow and rush in, the winds will blow and the elements will dash against that house of yours. It will fall, and its ruin will be great.
I can recall on some occasions when I have heard a non-Catholic preacher promise exactly what Saint Augustine denounces. A few preach that, if we believe in Christ, our health will be good, our finances strong, our possessions many. The Lord does not promise this. Instead, the Lord tells us: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Mt 16: 24-25). The Lord does not promise us that, if we follow Him, things will be easy.
As Saint Paul writes:
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all (Heb 12: 4-7).
It is not that we should seek suffering. It is difficult to imagine a sane person seeking to suffer merely to suffer. At the same time if we want to follow the Lord only if He gives us what we desire, then we no better than children who only want to eat candy and not the healthy food. 
God uses suffering to tear us away from the world and to make us holy. As the old saying goes: God whispers to us in silence, speaks to us in prayer, and shouts to us in suffering. It is often in our struggles that God is able to work most powerfully in our lives.
Saint Augustine calls us to build our lives on rock. Our lives are built on sand if we think God is only with us and only loves us when things are going well. God is with us in everything. The rains and storms come into everyone’s life. If we do not realize that God is with us in the challenges of life, then those challenges will overwhelm us. There are times when we must endure evil, temptations and pain.
The faith and wisdom of Job speaks to us in our struggles: Job says: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:2). And again: “Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad” (Job 2:10). There are prosperous times and there are lean times in each life. We are called to be grateful and enjoy God’s blessings in times of plenty, but also to trust in God and persevere in faith during times of strain, knowing that even those times can be blessings from the Lord if we trust in Him.
We need to allow God in His wisdom and love to work in our lives even when it challenges and troubles us. We need to trust that God is with us in all things. We need to believe that for those who love the Lord all things work for good (Rm 8:28). And we need to know that God never challenges us beyond our endurance. His grace is sufficient for us (1 Cor 12:9). His love never fails.