God’s Faithfulness

When You Don’t Understand What God Is Doing

There are some seasons in life when believing that God is faithful is easy. Things are working out, prayers are being answered, doors are opening, and you can look back and say, “Wow! Look at God!” But then there are those other seasons. The ones where you have prayed and prayed, and nothing seems to be changing. You are doing your best to trust God, but if you’re honest, you have questions. You may even wonder if God has forgotten about you. I think sometimes we believe God’s faithfulness is proven by how quickly He changes our circumstances. But God’s faithfulness is not measured by how fast He fixes something. Lamentations 3:22-23 (NLT) tells us, “The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” That’s truth. That means His faithfulness is still there when your circumstances haven't changed.

God Doesn't Stop Being Faithful Because Life Gets Hard

We have to be careful not to judge God’s faithfulness by what we can see. Sometimes what we see makes absolutely no sense. You can be walking with God, praying, trying to make right decisions, and still find yourself in a difficult place. That doesn't mean God stepped away. It doesn't mean He changed His mind about you. And it certainly doesn't mean you have been abandoned. Numbers 23:19 (NLT) reminds us, “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?” People can promise you something and then change their mind. People can mean well and still disappoint you. But God is not people. His character doesn't change because your life is in a difficult season. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves of that when our feelings are telling us something completely different about God’s goodness.

Faithfulness Means God Is Still God

And maybe this is where we struggle the most. We want to know what God is doing before we decide whether we can trust Him. We want the explanation, the timeline, the answer, and preferably all three right now. But faith doesn't always give us that. Sometimes faith says, “I don't understand this, but I know who God is.” That is a different kind of trust. Psalm 145:13 (NLT) says, “The Lord is faithful in all he says and gracious in all he does.” Notice that Scripture doesn't say God is faithful only when things go the way we want them to. He is faithful in all He says and does. There have been times when I had to look back over my own life and remember what God had already done because what I was facing in that moment made me forget. That's real talk. Sometimes you have to remind yourself of yesterday's faithfulness when today's circumstances are trying to make you doubt tomorrow.

God's faithfulness also doesn't mean He will give us everything we ask for. Sometimes God says no. Sometimes He says wait. Sometimes He takes us in a direction we never would have chosen for ourselves. And if we're honest, that can hurt. But God's faithfulness is bigger than giving us our way. He sees things we cannot see, and He knows things we don't know. Psalm 138:8 (NLT) says, “The Lord will work out his plans for my life—for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever.” I love this truth because it reminds us that God's plans don't fall apart just because we don't understand them. Life may feel crazy, but our Heavenly Father is still working. Sometimes the greatest evidence of His faithfulness isn’t what He has changed around us. It’s what He has changed in us while we wait for what He has next.

So if you are in a season where you don't understand God, don't confuse that with God being unfaithful. You may not understand the delay. You may not understand the loss. You may not understand why something you prayed about didn't turn out the way you wanted. But you can still hold on to who He is. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 (NLT) tells us, “But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.” God's faithfulness isn't dependent on how strong you feel today. It isn't dependent on whether you have all the answers. And it isn't dependent on whether life looks the way you thought it would by now. He is faithful because He is God. When everything else feels uncertain, that is the place where we can plant our feet and say, “Lord, I don't know what You're doing. I don't know how this is going to work out. But I know You have never stopped being faithful.” We don't have to understand everything to keep trusting Him, and that is exactly what He has called us to do. ■ 

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

“God’s Faithfulness”, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2026. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.