Groups Small group questions · Make It Count
When God Disappoints
Summary
This week’s message pointed out that many of us are fine trusting God as long as we pick the destination, so what we call trust can quietly become trusting God to carry out our own plan. Looking at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3, the message showed three men facing a situation they never chose, who trusted God’s character rather than demanding a particular outcome: “God is able to deliver us, but even if he does not, we will not bow.” The challenge was to stop making a specific answer the condition for trusting God, and to submit our hardest circumstances to him ahead of time, trusting that he is good and will show up in the fire with us.
Main focus
Trusting God doesn’t mean we stop asking for what we want; it means we stop making the answer the condition for trusting him.
Ice-breaker · Kick It Off With Something Fun
Are you an Apple Maps, Google Maps, or Waze person, and have you ever followed your GPS somewhere you definitely did not mean to end up?
Take it deeper
- The message said most of us are comfortable following a GPS as long as we picked the destination. Where in your life do you tend to want to choose the destination and treat God as the one who helps you get there?
- We often say things like “God, I trust you with ___, if you will ___.” Without getting too personal if you’d rather not, what’s an area where your trust in God has an unspoken “as long as” attached to it?
- Read Daniel 3:16-18. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said God is able to rescue them, “but even if he does not,” they would still remain faithful. Why do you think the “even if he does not” part is the one we’re most tempted to skip over?
- The message described trusting God’s character instead of trusting only his actions, meaning trusting that he is good and knows what’s best even when he doesn’t remove us from a hard situation. What is one thing you know about God’s character that has helped you keep trusting him when life didn’t go the way you hoped?
- Read Daniel 3:24-25. The king saw a fourth figure in the fire with the three men, who were unbound and unharmed. Have you ever experienced God’s presence in a difficult season more than his removal of the difficulty? What was that like?
- Read Proverbs 3:5-6. The message emphasized “predetermined submission,” giving God our hardest circumstances before they happen. Of the three questions at the end of the message, which one is most helpful for you right now: What am I trying to control? What am I constantly trying to fix on my own? What am I afraid will happen if I let go?