This 5-day devotional draws directly from David Platt's sermon “Showcase — Trust In God Worship Night - May 2026” so you can keep engaging with the message all week. Read, reflect, and share it with your small group or friends.
When You're Not Sure You Can Trust Him
Monday — Understanding the Truth
Have you ever caught yourself wondering, deep down, does God actually care about what I'm going through?
Today's 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." — Proverbs 3:5–6
Reflection The word trust sounds simple until life gets complicated. But trust has real substance to it — it means relying on someone's character, their ability, their strength, and their truthfulness. It's not a feeling you work up. It's a decision rooted in what you know to be true about a person.
So what do we actually know about God? We know his character is good. We know he is able to do far more than we could ask or imagine. We know he is not distant or indifferent — he is the God who became flesh, walked among us, and proved himself faithful at every turn.
The invitation in Proverbs 3 isn't just a command to try harder. It's God himself saying, I am trustworthy — lean on me, not just on what you can figure out on your own. That word heart in Hebrew captures everything: your mind, your emotions, your will, your whole self. God isn't asking for a portion of your trust. He's asking for all of you.
That's a big ask. But it's coming from a God who has already given everything for you.
Today's Step Take a moment to ask yourself honestly: In what area of my life am I leaning on my own understanding instead of trusting God? Just name it — you don't have to fix it today.
A Closing Thought Trust begins with knowing who God is. This week, let that knowing go a little deeper.
The Disciples Asked It, and So Can You
Tuesday — When It's Hard
Have you ever prayed something that felt almost too honest to say out loud — God, do you even care?
Today's Scripture "And they woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?'" — Mark 4:38
Reflection The disciples were experienced fishermen on a lake they knew well. But this storm was different — waves crashing over the sides, water filling the boat, and Jesus asleep in the stern. Their question wasn't polite theology. It was raw, desperate, and afraid: Don't you care?
Here's what's remarkable: Jesus didn't rebuke them for asking it. He woke up, calmed the storm with a word, and then gently asked his own question back: Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?
There's no condemnation in that. There's an invitation. Jesus was essentially saying, You're with me. You don't have to be afraid like this.
We've all been in boats that feel like they're filling with water — a health crisis, a fractured relationship, a season where nothing makes sense. And the silence of God in those moments can feel like absence. But the disciples' story reminds us that Jesus was never absent. He was right there in the boat. The storm didn't change that. Their fear didn't change that.
Doubt and struggle aren't the opposite of faith. They're often the beginning of a deeper one.
Today's Step Write down one honest question you've been afraid to bring to God. Then bring it to him anyway — he can handle it, and he's not going anywhere.
A Closing Thought The same Jesus who calmed the Sea of Galilee is in your boat right now. You are not alone in this.
Trusting God With Your Whole Self
Wednesday — Putting It Into Practice
What would it look like to actually trust God today — not in theory, but in the specific, ordinary moments of your real life?
Today's Scripture "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." — Jeremiah 17:7–8
Reflection Trusting God isn't one big dramatic decision — it's a thousand small ones. It's choosing, in the middle of a stressful workday, not to spiral into worst-case thinking. It's pausing before a hard conversation to ask God for wisdom instead of just reacting. It's returning, again and again, to what you know is true about him when your feelings are telling you something different.
Jeremiah's image of the tree is striking. The tree doesn't panic during drought because its roots go deep into a source that doesn't dry up. Trust works the same way — the deeper your roots go into who God is, the less the dry seasons shake you.
A simple, practical way to build that rootedness: try praying through four movements today. Praise God for specific ways he's been faithful to you. Repent of any area where you've been relying on yourself instead of him. Ask for his help in the places you feel most uncertain. Yield — open hands, surrendered will, trusting him with what you can't control.
Today's Step Pick one worry you've been carrying and walk through those four steps with it: praise, repent, ask, yield. Even five minutes of honest prayer can shift something.
A Closing Thought You don't have to have it all figured out. You just have to keep your roots in the right place.
The Friends Who Refused to Give Up
Thursday — What This Looks Like in Real Life
Think about someone in your life who is hard to reach right now — someone who needs help getting to Jesus.
Today's Scripture "And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" — Mark 2:4–5
Reflection Four friends carried a paralyzed man to a house where Jesus was teaching. The door was blocked. The crowd wouldn't move. So they climbed to the roof, tore it open, and lowered their friend down — right in front of Jesus.
Notice what Mark says: Jesus saw their faith. Not just the paralyzed man's faith. The faith of the friends.
Imagine someone in your life who is stuck. Maybe they're paralyzed by fear, or grief, or a habit they can't break, or a hurt they can't get past. They may not have the energy to get themselves to Jesus right now. But you could be one of the four.
Trust in God isn't only personal — it moves outward. When you trust that Jesus has authority over sickness, sin, and suffering, it changes how you show up for the people around you. You don't give up on them. You get creative. You pray for them when they can't pray for themselves. You show up, even when it's inconvenient, even when the door is blocked.
The man walked out carrying his own mat. His friends were on the roof watching it happen.
Today's Step Think of one person who needs someone to carry them closer to Jesus right now. Pray for them today by name — and consider what one practical act of care might look like this week.
A Closing Thought Your faith can be the bridge someone else walks across. Don't underestimate what God can do through a willing friend.
He Has Never Failed, and He Won't Start Now
Friday — Carrying It Forward
As the week ends and the weekend begins, here's the question worth sitting with: What do I know to be true about God, even when I can't see what he's doing?
Today's Scripture "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" — Mark 4:40
"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." — Proverbs 3:5–6
Reflection This week we've been sitting with one of the most important questions a person can ask: Do I actually trust God? Not just in the good seasons, but in the storms. Not just in theory, but with my whole heart — my mind, my emotions, my choices, my everyday life.
Here's what we've seen: Jesus is in the boat with you. He has authority over everything you're afraid of. He sees the faith of people who refuse to give up. He is the one who, when everything else is uncertain, remains completely trustworthy.
When you can't trace what God is doing, you can trace who he is. His character is good. His power is real. His love for you is not conditional on your circumstances looking a certain way.
The storms will come. The droughts will come. But the tree with deep roots doesn't stop bearing fruit, and the person whose trust is anchored in Jesus doesn't have to be swept away.
Carry that into your weekend. Into your family, your work, your conversations, your quiet moments.
Today's Step Before the weekend gets full, take two minutes to write down one way God has proven faithful to you — recently or in the past. Let that be your anchor when things feel uncertain next week.
A Closing Thought He has never failed. He never will. You can trust him with all of it.