The Heart of God

Faithfulness

How do you know you can trust someone? Is it when they keep their promises? When they show up for you in your time of need? When their words and their actions line up? There are so many things that go into trusting a person.

How do you know you can trust God? That’s an even bigger question — maybe the most important question of all. We often talk about believing in​ God or having faith.​ But those words don't always carry the same weight and meaning as the word​ trust.​

Lots of people believe​ in God (even evil spirits recognized and "believed in" Jesus, meaning they believed he was in fact Jesus). But not as many people actually trust​ in him, meaning they are willing to give themselves to him fully and stake their very life on him, knowing that he is good, loving, righteous, and, well, trustworthy. After all, a person can only put trust in someone who is trustworthy.

God's compassion, grace, slow-to-anger-ness, and loyal love mean nothing if God isn't also faithful or trustworthy. His faithfulness is the rock on which all those other characteristics rest. He is faithfully compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and overflowing with loyal love. That's what makes him God.

Talk about the questions below, watch the video, and read the Bible passages to dive deeper into God’s faithfulness

Warm-Up

  • How do you personally know when you can trust someone?
  • What makes someone stable and reliable?
  • Who is someone in your life that you trust? Why?

Watch

"The Reason You Can Trust God (Even When It Seems Risky)"​ [5:11] *This video mentions Moses, the Amalekites, Abraham, Sarah, David.

Read

Lamentations 3:22–23 (These words were written when God's people had been under siege by powerful enemies and exiled to a foreign land — in other words, circumstances were as bad as they could get.)

I John 1:9

Respond

In the Old Testament, God's faithfulness often referred to his promise to care for his people, to be their loving and unshakeable Lord and King. It also included his promise to someday send a Messiah to rescue them and all humanity. Jesus has already come and provided a rescue, but that doesn't means God's faithfulness and trustworthiness is now outdated or finished. He's faithful in all kinds of ways, just as he's always been (that's what faithful means, after all).

  • What does it mean to you that God is faithful to forgive us when we confess our sins? Why does that matter so much?

Engage

Our response to God's faithfulness and trustworthiness should be to trust him and be faithful to him. Read John 3:16–18. Read the word "trust" wherever you see the word "believe." How does that impact your understanding of these verses?

Read Matthew 7:24–27. If something can be trusted (for example, Jesus and his teachings), then it's wise to build your life on them (that is, obey them). How do you think God's trustworthiness/faithfulness are connected to our obedience?

Make a list of ways that God is faithful to humans. Which of these do you sometimes struggle to believe?

Make a list of ways God's children can be faithful to him. Which of those do you need to grow in?

End

God is faithful and trustworthy. He is consistent in his character and never changes. That doesn't mean we will always understand his ways or thoughts or plans — but it does mean we can know him and his heart. He is the solid rock on which we can build our lives, and the compassionate, gracious, patient, loving Father in whom we can rest safely and confidently.