8 Bible Stories to Teach Your Kids About Trust

Trust can be a hard thing to describe, much less teach to our children. If your children are younger than 11 or 12, they are probably concrete thinkers. God and trust in God are both pretty abstract ideas. Fortunately, we can use some of our kid’s favorite Bible stories to teach them about trust. Here are eight stories you can share when talking about trust with your kids.

Teaching Trust

Faith and trust are closely linked for us Christians. Pablo Diaz of Guideposts writes that “faith is a belief system; trust is action.” We can help our children by talking about what those in the stories believed and then the actions they took to show their trust.

For example, faith is believing a chair will hold you if you sit on it. Trust is actually sitting on the chair.

You can play this out with kids with balloons. Do your kids believe that a balloon will hold them? Will they trust the balloon and sit on it?

Noah

God asked Noah to build a big boat and fill it with animals, supplies and his family. Even though this seems like an odd request, Noah trusted God. Noah and God were close friends, and Noah did all that God asked him to do.

• Find It: Genesis 6-9
• Key Trust Verse: Genesis 6:22 (NIV): “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”
• Talk About It. Ask your kids these questions: What did Noah believe about God? How did he put his faith into action and trust God? What might have made it hard to trust God? What was the outcome of Noah’s trust?

David and Goliath

Goliath was a big and scary soldier. David was a shepherd boy who trusted God. King Saul wanted to send David to battle in heavy armor, but David refused. He took his sling and a few stones. Then, with David’s first stone, God defeated Goliath.

• Find It: 1 Samuel 17
• Key Trust Verse: 1 Samuel 17:45 (NIV): “David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.'”
• Talk About It.
• Look at each of these people in the story and brainstorm who or what they trusted in: David, King Saul, Goliath. Why do you think David took 5 stones?

Daniel and the Lion’s Den

This is a favorite in our house. My girls particularly love this song of the story from the lions’ perspective.

Daniel was faced with trickery and persecution for worshiping God. He had to trust God with his life as he faced being thrown into a den of lions.

• Find It: Daniel 6
• Key Trust Verse: Daniel 6:23 (NIV): “The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him because he had trusted in his God.”
• Talk About It. Ask your kids these questions: Daniel is called trustworthy in Daniel 6:4. What do you think made him trustworthy? What are two ways Daniel trusted God? What happened to the King because Daniel trusted God?

Peter Walking on Water

This is an exciting story about a miracle: Jesus and Peter walked on water. It’s great to share with kids because we can get scared after we take action in trust. Trust doesn’t always get rid of fear.

• Find It: Matthew 14:22-33
• Key Trust Verse: Matthew 14:29 (NIV):” ‘Come,’ he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.”
• Talk About It. Ask your kids these questions: What are Peter’s different feelings? How did Peter respond to Jesus calling him to take action? Was this trust? Who did Peter ask for help when he was scared?

Ananias and Saul

Saul was mean to the Christians of the early church. God called Ananias to help Saul. It took a lot of trust in God for Ananias to be willing to help a bully.

• Find It: Acts 9:10-19
• Key Trust Verse: Acts 9:17 (NIV): “Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.'”
• Talk About It. Ask your kids these questions: Ananias was scared and asked God a question before obeying. Was this ok? Did Ananias trust God and follow his directions? What happened to Saul because Ananias trusted God?

A Trusting Father

In this story, trust precedes belief. Sometimes, we want to trust God, but we need God’s help to do it. We can ask God for more faith and trust, like the dad in this story, who wanted Jesus to heal his son.

• Find It: Mark 9:14-29
• Key Trust Verse: Mark 9:24 (NIV): “Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!'”
• Talk About It. Ask your kids these questions: How did this man show trust even though he said “if you can” to Jesus? Mark 9:22 (NLT) Why do you think the man showed some doubt? Did the disciples trust in the power God had given them to heal the boy?

Jesus Amazed

It must take a lot to amaze Jesus, but the Roman officer in this story does. His faith and trust in Jesus were strong. The officer trusted Jesus to heal his slave by His words.

• Find It: Luke 7:1-10; Matthew 8:5-13
• Key Trust Verse: Luke 7:9 (NIV): “When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, ‘I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.'”
• Talk About It. Ask your kids these questions: Where did the Roman officer hear about Jesus? Who benefitted from the officer’s trust in Jesus? The Roman officer wasn’t even a Jew. Did that matter when Jesus saw his faith and trust?

Jesus in The Garden

Even though Jesus is the Son of God, he still needed to practice trusting God when he walked on earth. We see this in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus asked God to change the plans of the cross, but He was determined to trust God, whatever the cost.

• Find It: Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46
• Key Trust Verse: Luke 22:42 (NIV):” ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.'”
• Talk About It. Ask your kids these questions: Do you think it was easy for Jesus to follow through with this action of trust? Why do you think he trusted God?

We can help teach our kids to trust in Jesus because he has always been faithful to keep his promises. You can also share your own stories of God’s trustworthiness in your family’s life.