7.7.25 – Learning to Trust When You Don’t Understand
Key Verse for 2025: “Watch your life and doctrine closely.” — 1 Timothy 4:16
INTRODUCTION
This week’s message began with a real-life conversation about suffering and faith. It’s common to feel anger, doubt, or confusion when life doesn’t make sense. But what if trust doesn’t always need full understanding? Through the prophets Micah and Isaiah, we’re reminded that even when we don’t grasp all God is doing, we are still invited to trust Him.
Micah and Isaiah both saw the fall of Israel’s northern kingdom. They also spoke of a future King—born in Bethlehem—who would rule with peace and justice. That King is Jesus. The prophets didn’t understand the full picture, but they trusted the One who did.
MAIN POINT: Faith is not the absence of confusion but the decision to trust God even when you don’t fully understand what He’s doing.
SCRIPTURE-DRIVEN DISCUSSION
Have your group read these passages aloud: Micah 5:2–5 and Micah 6:6–8. Additional references from the sermon include Isaiah 11:1, 1 Corinthians 1:18–25, and 1 Peter 1:3–13.
Take a couple of minutes and talk about anything that stood out to you from the sermon or the passages. Why do you think that stood out to you?
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
Q1: What does it look like to trust God when you don’t understand what He’s doing?
Reminder from the sermon: “It is okay to believe his Word and yet find parts of it confusing.”
– When have you struggled with confusion but still chosen to trust God?
– How does this kind of trust grow over time?
Q2: What does God really want from us—according to Micah 6:8?
Reminder from the sermon: “Quit bargaining…he has told you what is good.”
– Which of the three requirements—doing justice, loving kindness, walking humbly—feels most challenging right now?
– How can your group help one another walk humbly with God this week?
Q3: Are you training your heart to trust before the storm hits?
Reminder from the sermon and 1 Peter 1:13: “Prepare your minds for action… set your hope fully on the grace to be given you.”
– What does it mean to prepare spiritually during a season of peace?
– How can you actively train now for the trials that may come later?
Q4: How do you maintain the tension of active faithfulness—living decided even when you don’t understand?
Reminder from the sermon: Faithfulness is always a right-column decision—even when your emotions belong in the left.
· What does it look like to “live decided” in real time?
· Where do you need to act in obedience even before you feel full clarity?
LET’S REMEMBER:
You don’t have to understand everything to trust the One who does. God’s plan has always included mystery, but He has made clear what He requires: do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him. Trust is not shallow—it’s the most rational response to a God who has proven Himself faithful. And in peaceful seasons, we prepare—not by worrying, but by training our hearts to trust.
CLOSING PRAYER
Lord, we don’t always understand what You’re doing, but we want to trust You. Help us walk humbly, love mercy, and do what is right. Strengthen our hearts today so we can stand firm tomorrow. Train us to trust You—not just in the storm, but in the quiet before it. Amen.