God is Trustworthy, Part 2
Characteristics of God, God is an Example to Imitate
Why Should We Trust in God?
In our study last week, we established that God is worthy of trust, and we should place our trust in him. But WHY should we place our trust in God? What has he done to earn that trust? (Does God even need to earn our trust? I mean, he’s God!!) Maybe a better way to phrase it is, What has he done to show that he is trustworthy? In this lesson, we’ll look at some of the reasons God has given us to trust in him.
Unfailing Love
One of the most frequent characteristics of God tied to his trustworthiness is his love. But just love in and of itself might not be enough for some people to place their trust in God. From a worldly perspective, people fall in and out of love all the time. Love can be a fleeting feeling. But the Bible gives us deeper insight into God’s love. God’s love is not fleeting. It is unfailing.
Psalm 13:5: But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Psalm 32:10: Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the Lord’s unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in him.
Psalm 143:8: Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I entrust my life.
We can place our trust in God because of his unfailing love. These verses clearly tell us that God promises to love the one who trusts in him. That love will never fail us. And if God loves us, we can trust that he will direct our lives.
Faithfulness
Another common characteristic of God tied to his trustworthiness is his faithfulness. We can trust God because we know he is faithful. Faithful means he is loyal and steadfast. If he says he will do something, he is faithful to keep that promise, as we discussed in Part 1. This goes hand-in-hand with his trustworthiness.
Psalm 26:1-3: 1 Vindicate me, Lord,
for I have led a blameless life;
I have trusted in the Lord
and have not faltered.
2 Test me, Lord, and try me,
examine my heart and my mind;
3 for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love
and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.
Psalm 145:13b: The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
and faithful in all he does.
God is faithful to us if we trust in him, but even more than that, we can trust God to be faithful to himself. Being faithful is such an integral part of God’s identity that he can never be faithless.
2 Timothy 2:11-13: 11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
12 if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.
In other words, God’s faithfulness doesn’t depend on us. God is faithful because of who he is, and because he is faithful, we can trust in him.
Holiness
In Part 1, we saw that we can trust in God’s name. Psalm 33 gives us additional reason to trust in God’s name: he is holy.
Psalm 33:21-22: 21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.
Holy means that it is set apart for a special purpose. God is set apart from all of his creation, and because he is not fallen or sinful like the rest of creation, we can trust in him.
Helps Us
Another reason that we can trust in God is because he helps us. God will not leave us to falter on our own. We can trust him to show up in our time of need.
Psalm 28:7: The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
and with my song I praise him.
The Bible contrasts God’s actions to help us with the help of idols. Idols are visible, but they cannot respond to us. They cannot speak, see, hear, smell, feel, walk, or talk. When we call on them, they can do nothing. God is the opposite. When we call on him, he hears us and responds by helping us and protecting us. Because God is faithful to do this, we can trust in him.
Psalm 115:4-11: 4 But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
6 They have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell.
7 They have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8 Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.9 All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
11 You who fear him, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
Another way that God helps us is by giving us the desires of our hearts. If we delight in God and commit our ways to him, we can trust that he will give us the thing our heart most longs for.
Psalm 37:3-5: 3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this.
Keep in mind that this is not a blanket promise that God will just give you whatever you want. If we commit our ways to the Lord, that means that our will and our desires must align with his will for our lives. And if it is God’s will, you can trust that he will bring that to pass.
Never Forsakes Us
The last reason we will discuss for why we should trust in God is that he never forsakes us.
Psalm 9:10: Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
If we know God and seek him, God will not forsake us. He will not abandon us, leaving us stranded in our own sin, unable to find a way out. Instead, he will care for us, help us, love us, and be faithful to us. For this reason, we can trust in God.
Conclusion
The Bible gives us many reasons that we can trust God. These are just a few. With words like “unfailing” and “faithful” and “never,” our trust in God can be absolute. He will not fail, he will remain faithful, he will keep his promises, he will never forsake us. These aren’t just “maybe” or “if I feel like it” promises. These are absolute promises that God gives to those who put their trust in him. And even more than that, we can trust in God to be faithful to who he is, regardless of anything we do. Because that’s just who he is.
Over the next two weeks, we’ll look at the consequences of not trusting God and the rewards that come from trusting God. I hope you’ll join us!
Premium Resources
Each individual characteristic of God study will come with two resources: a word search just for fun (including an answer key), and a list of verses for if you want to investigate that individual characteristic of God more completely.
You can access these resources by clicking here: God Is Trustworthy Resources
Or you can download them here:
