Trusting God When Nothing Makes Sense (A Faith That Works)

If you’ve lived long enough on this Earth, you are well aware of this one fact: life doesn’t

always follow a script we like or can even understand. Each one of us faces loss, confusion, disappointment. And in the silence, we often wonder where God is. In these moments, trusting Him can feel less like a firm conviction and more like clinging to a rope in the dark. 

But here’s the vital takeaway from those moments: the rope is real. And it holds. 

The Call to Trust 

Consider Proverbs 3:5–6, which offers one of the most well-loved statements in all of Scripture: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” 

These words are easy to recite but far harder to live. Trusting with all your heart means letting go of the need to control outcomes. It means holding your questions with open hands. And it means choosing to trust in the Lord even if we are never able to understand where God is in the midst of it all. 

God doesn’t promise to explain everything. But He does promise to guide. He doesn’t always remove the crooked path, but He does make it straight as you walk forward in faith. 

When God Feels Absent 

Some of the most faithful people in Scripture experienced deep confusion and silence from God. 

Consider Job, for example. He was a righteous man, but he lost nearly everything, including his health, his family, and his livelihood. And all of this happened on God’s watch. Job cried out to God, asking why. And for long stretches, he heard nothing in return. Yet Job never stopped directing his cries to God. Even in agony, he trusted that God was just and good. That trust became his lifeline. 

Even Jesus, who was perfectly obedient, felt the ache of divine silence. On the cross, He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). That moment, echoing Psalm 22, reminds us that Jesus entered into our pain and alienation. Yet it was through that very agony that redemption came. 

God’s silence does not mean His absence. Sometimes, He is working in the quiet. Forming us. Strengthening us. Aligning our hearts to His. 

A Life of Faith, Not Answers 

Compounding matters for us is the fact that we live in an age that prizes answers, explanations, and control. This situation makes it difficult to embrace God when he invites us to something deeper: a life of faith. 

What is a life of faith? Well, faithful living is not blind optimism. It’s a life rooted in the character of a faithful God. We trust because He has proven trustworthy. Scripture reveals His nature—steadfast love, mercy, justice, and truth. He has never once broken a promise. 

The more we absorb Scripture, the more our spiritual fitness grows. As that fitness increases, so does our ability to trust in the middle of confusion. When your heart is saturated with God’s Word, you are more likely to remember His past faithfulness even when your present feels fragile. 

Trust in the Trenches 

The question remains: what does trust look like in real life? 

• It looks like praying even when you don’t feel heard. 

• It looks like obeying what you do know, even when you don’t understand the rest. 

• It looks like surrendering your timeline, your plan, your comfort—because you believe His ways are higher. 

  
  

You see, trust grows only when it is exercised. So, start with the next small step. Read one chapter of Scripture. Whisper one honest prayer. Ask God to help your unbelief. 

You don’t need to see the whole picture. You just need to keep walking. 

Your Trust Can Strengthen Others 

What’s the takeaway? It’s this. When you trust God in hard seasons, your life becomes a testimony. Others see the peace that surpasses understanding. They watch you cling to hope, and it strengthens their own. 

In this way, your faith is not just personal. It’s a gift to others. Your children. Your spouse. Your friends. Your enemies. Your church. Everybody around you. 

A faith that works is a faith that endures in the dark, trusts through confusion, and bears fruit even in suffering. 

So when nothing makes sense, choose trust. 

The rope is still there. And God is still holding you.