What Does It Mean to Truly Trust God?
Trusting God is more than saying we believe He has a plan. It means learning to surrender our plans to Him—even when we don't understand what He's doing.
FAITH
Glorious Grace
8/23/20265 min read
We often say that we trust God, but what does that actually mean?
Is trusting God simply believing that everything will work out the way we want?
Is it believing that if we pray hard enough, God will give us the answer we're hoping for?
Or is biblical trust something deeper?
Scripture shows us that trusting God doesn't mean knowing what He's going to do. It means knowing who He is even when we don't.
Trusting God When We Don't Understand
One of the most familiar passages about trusting God is Proverbs 3:5–6:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
Notice what the passage doesn't say.
It doesn't say we'll always understand God's plan.
Instead, it tells us not to lean on our own understanding.
That's difficult.
We naturally want answers. We want to know why something happened. We want to know when things will change. We want to know what comes next.
But sometimes God doesn't give us those answers.
Trust means continuing to follow Him anyway.
Abraham Had to Trust God
Abraham is one of Scripture's clearest examples of faith.
God called him to leave his country and his family and go to a land God would show him.
Hebrews 11:8 says:
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."
Let's think about that. He went without knowing where he was going.
Now, that's trust.
Abraham didn't have the entire plan laid out in front of him. He had God's promise, and he moved forward based on that promise.
Trust Doesn't Mean We Never Feel Afraid
Sometimes, us Christians think that feeling afraid means we aren't trusting God. But Scripture gives us plenty of examples of faithful people who experienced fear.
David wrote in Psalm 56:3:
"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you."
Notice David didn't say, “I will never be afraid.”
He said:
"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you."
Fear and faith can exist in the same moment. The question is what we do with our fear.
Do we allow fear to control us, or do we bring that fear to God?
Jesus Taught Us Not to Live Consumed by Worry
Jesus addressed worry directly in Matthew 6. He told His followers not to be consumed by what they would eat, drink, or wear.
He pointed them toward God's care for His creation.
Matthew 6:31–32 says:
"So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them."
Jesus wasn't saying that our needs don't matter.
He was reminding us that our Father already knows what we need.
Then He gave them a different priority:
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33)
Trust means putting God first instead of allowing fear about tomorrow to consume today.
Trusting God Doesn't Mean We Stop Acting
Trusting God isn't an excuse for laziness or irresponsibility. Scripture calls us to work, plan wisely, and make decisions.
There's a big difference between planning while trusting God and trying to control everything ourselves. James 4:13–15 warns against making plans with the assumption that we are completely in control of what tomorrow will bring.
That's not saying we shouldn't make plans. It's reminding us that our plans should always be submitted to God's will.
We can make plans, but we should hold them with open hands. God is ultimately in control of whether those plans happen.
Sometimes God Says No
This may be one of the hardest parts of trusting God. Sometimes we pray for something desperately, and God says no.
Paul experienced this.
In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul pleaded with God three times to remove his “thorn in the flesh.”
God didn't give Paul the answer he wanted.
Instead, God told him:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Paul had to trust God's answer even though it wasn't the answer he requested. And that teaches us something important.
Trusting God means trusting Him even when His answer is no.
Trusting God When Life Hurts
There are seasons when trusting God feels much harder.
When a relationship falls apart.
When money is tight.
When a loved one is sick.
When a door closes that we desperately wanted opened.
When we pray and don't immediately see an answer.
When we don't understand why God allowed something to happen.
Those are the moments when trust becomes more than a Christian phrase. It's a choice.
Psalm 37:5 says:
"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this."
We may not know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow.
I'm Still Learning This Too
And this is something I have to remind myself of. I'm still learning what it means to truly trust God.
It's easy to say we trust Him when everything is going well. It's much harder when we don't know what is coming next.
There have been times when I've wanted answers immediately. Times when I've tried to figure everything out myself. Times when I've worried about things I couldn't control.
And I'm still growing in learning to surrender those things to God instead of carrying them myself. I don't pretend to have mastered trust.
But perhaps that's the point. Trust isn't something we graduate from.
It's something we practice. Again and again.
God Is Worthy of Our Trust
Why can we trust God? Because He is trustworthy.
Numbers 23:19 says:
"God is not human, that he should lie."
God doesn't make empty promises. He doesn't change like people do. He doesn't abandon His children.
Psalm 9:10 says:
"Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you."
Our trust isn't based on circumstances. It's based on God's character.
What Does Trust Actually Look Like?
Sometimes trusting God means praying instead of panicking.
Sometimes it means obeying when we don't understand.
Sometimes it means waiting when we'd rather have an answer now.
Sometimes it means accepting that God's answer may be different from the one we wanted.
Sometimes it means releasing control.
Sometimes it means saying:
“Lord, I don't understand this. But I trust You.”
That's not weakness. That's faith.
Proverbs 3:5 doesn't tell us to trust our circumstances.
It tells us to trust the Lord, and that's the difference.
Our circumstances change. God does not.
Our plans change. God remains faithful.
Our understanding is limited. God sees what we cannot.
So perhaps truly trusting God isn't about having confidence that everything will turn out exactly the way we want.
Perhaps it's something much deeper.
It's having confidence that whatever happens, God is still God, He is still good, and He is still worthy of our trust.