Trusting God When You Don’t Understand

In Proverbs 3:5 I read, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.” (HCSB)

Many people, including myself, ask God to guarantee success before trying what he has asked us to do—but that’s not faith. Faith always requires risk.

Faith means I obey even when I don’t understand. For example, forgiveness never seems like a good idea before I do it, but it’s one of the greatest tests of my faith. When someone hurts me, it may not feel right to forgive that person; it may not appear just. But forgiveness is always the right choice, regardless of whether I understand it.

Remember when as a child, my parents told me to do something that didn’t make sense? But now I can look back with 20/20 hindsight and understand my parents’ perspective.

That’s how it works with God too.

Faith is doing what’s right even when it seems absurd. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding” (HCSB). I will never know the whole picture, but God does. 

The Bible gives a great example of this in the story of Gideon in Judges 7. Gideon took 300 Israelites to battle 135,000 enemy soldiers. The odds were 450 to one. God had the soldiers take torches, trumpets, and clay pots—a command I’m sure Gideon thought was ludicrous.

Then God told Gideon to put the clay pots over the torches so the light couldn’t be seen at night and go surround the enemy’s camp. God’s instructions were something like this: “When I tell you to, blow the trumpets, break the pots, and let the torchlight suddenly shine out in the darkness. It will look like a huge army is surrounding the camp. It will cause mass confusion, and the enemy soldiers will end up fighting each other.”

Gideon obeyed, even though it didn’t make any sense. The Israelites blew their trumpets, broke their pots, and revealed the light from their torches. The enemy soldiers woke up in shock and started fighting each other instead of the Israelites. Because Gideon did what God told him to do—even when he didn’t understand it—the Israelites won the battle.

Sometimes God tells me to do something that appears foolish—like going into battle facing overwhelming odds. But when I have faith, I’ll obey God even when I don’t understand what he’s asking me to do.

Like Gideon and his soldiers, I can’t live by faith without risk. But God sees the big picture with 20/20 vision. I can trust what he’s asking me to do.

In summary, many, including myself, ask God to guarantee success before trying what he has asked us to do—but that’s not faith. Faith always requires risk. Faith means I obey even when I don’t understand. Faith is doing what’s right even when it seems absurd. I will never know the whole picture, but God does. The Bible gives a great example of this in the story of Gideon. Sometimes God tells me to do something that appears foolish. But when I have faith, I’ll obey God even when I don’t understand what he’s asking me to do. I can’t live by faith without risk. But God sees the big picture with 20/20 vision. I can trust what he’s asking me to do.

I need to learn to trust in the Lord with all my heart. Never rely on what I think I know. Remember to include the Lord in everything I do, then he will show me the right way to go. I should never think highly of myself. Simply obey the Lord and refuse to do wrong. After all, God knows what is best for me. I must learn to trust him completely in everything. I need to be willing to listen to and be corrected by God's Word and wise counselors. Bring decisions to God in prayer, use His Word as a guide and follow His leading. To receive His guidance all I need to do is to turn every area of my life over to him and seek his will in what I do.