Trusting God Is Good When Life Is Hard

Trusting the God Who Goes Off Script

Scripture References

• Exodus 32:1-4
• Isaiah 53

Overview

Pastor Albert Tate challenges us to follow a God who will not be managed or hurried. When God “goes off script”—delaying, allowing pain, or refusing our preferred outcomes—we’re tempted to grab familiar substitutes. Instead, Scripture invites us to bring every doubt, wait honestly, and enthrone Him alone. Real faith reaches for God even while wrestling with unbelief.

Main Points

God’s open table—and our “closed rooms”

• Story: Albert’s grandmother kept a formal room the kids couldn’t enter; many churches create similar “no-doubt” zones.
• God’s hospitality is wide, yet we often act as if unbelief and hard questions must stay outside.
• Hiding doubt produces fake spirituality; honest questions lead to real relationship.

Belief and unbelief can live in the same heart

• The desperate father (“I believe; help my unbelief”) and Thomas show that wrestling belongs inside community.
• Jesus keeps the scars visible—“I already made a way for your doubts.”
• Faith is not the absence of questions; it’s bringing them to Jesus.

God values the journey more than the answers

• Illustration: School math book—Albert loved copying the answers from the back, but the teacher wanted to see his work.
• Likewise, God cares less about filling our blanks and more about walking with us through the problem.
• Presence outweighs explanations.

Waiting exposes our idols (Exodus 32)

• Israel tired of waiting for Moses and built a golden calf: “We don’t know what happened to him.”
• Egypt was out of their geography, but still in their hearts.
• Whenever God feels slow, we reach for what is familiar instead of the One who has been faithful.

Longings vs. Reachings

• They were longing for God but reached for gold.
• Modern parallels: longing for intimacy yet reaching for pornography; longing for peace yet reaching for pills or food.
• Spiritual maturity notices the difference and redirects the reach toward God.

Who sits on the throne?

• Illustration: Volunteer seated as “God” is shoved aside when life doesn’t go Albert’s way.
• Following Jesus is not co-ownership; it is full surrender.
• We enthrone Him afresh whenever we choose trust over control.

Key Truths

• God already made provision for every honest doubt you will ever bring Him.
• Waiting seasons reveal whether we crave God Himself or only His timely answers.
• Substitutes feel familiar but ultimately rob us of the faithful One we truly desire.
• Real discipleship dethrones self and gives Jesus unrestricted authority.
• Joy is found not in explanations but in His abiding presence.

Response

• Admit your questions to God without editing them.
• Identify one area where you have replaced waiting with a familiar substitute; repent and remove it.
• Consciously “re-seat” Jesus on the throne each morning through prayer and obedience.
• When someone near you voices doubt, invite them closer instead of pushing them away.
• Trade the pursuit of quick answers for a deeper pursuit of God’s presence this week.

Closing

God refuses to be our manageable, on-demand deity. He may delay, reroute, or appear silent, yet His scars prove He already anticipated every fear. Reach for Him—right in the tension of faith and doubt—and you will discover that the journey with a seemingly “disobedient” God is the safest place of all.