Trust and Obey

There is a song that contains these lyrics, "trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." I have always considered that one of the most important musical messages of the Christian faith. To trust Jesus so implicitly that you obey His every word, wow, what a display of Christian faith that would be. Seldom in this day and age do we see faith that complete however. Most people if they were to be told to trust God and obey Him, they would probably say, "sure, no problem. I do that anyway." But do they really? How many times in our everyday lives do we try to make decisions all alone without consulting God in the matter? I'll tell you how many times, ALL the time, that's how many times.

What is good in our eyes may or may not be good in God's eyes. He knows better than we ever could what is best for us and he gives us the opportunity to follow His will if we will only stop long enough to listen to it. You may say, "God doesn't speak to me, I've never heard His voice so how would I know what to listen for?" This is merely an excuse and a very common one. God talks to people in so many ways, through subtle notions that He plants in your head, through reading the Word of God, through other people who may suggest things to you, and in myriads of other ways as well. Occasionally you may even actually hear the voice of God. It may not happen every day but it does sometimes happen.

But instead of listening, we bully our way through life unwilling to listen even to friends and associates, or family, and basically just do everything our own way, heedless of the outcome. Sometimes this method can work and everything turns out just fine, but there are other times when exactly the opposite occurs and everything fails, big time. You see, there is such a thing as permissive will. Sometimes God allows us to forge on ahead without Him, because it will glorify Him in the end. This is called permissive will, and it should not be mistaken for God's original will. Just because He sometimes changes His mind to let us have our own way, does not mean that we do not need Him in our lives.

To trust God implicitly means to turn over our troubles and problems to Him, because His shoulders are a lot broader than ours and He can handle what we cannot, and then once we turn over those problems to Him we are to leave them at His feet and stop worrying about it. The easy part is taking your problems to God, but the hard part is leaving them there. Most of us take them to Him and then try to pick them back up again. That just leads to more heartache. I'm here to tell you that I do hear the voice of God, and quite often. What I usually hear Him saying is, "don't worry." Yup, I'm one of those who takes her troubles to the Lord and then tries to take them back again.

When I hear that whisper in my mind, I always think, "okay, Lord, I will stop worrying." But then I turn around minutes later, finding myself thinking the very same worrisome thoughts all over again. Then I hear "don't worry" again and then the whole thing repeats itself unendingly until whatever it was that worried me goes away. Does this mean that I don't trust God? No, it just means that I don't trust Him as much as I should, which would be completely. Trust and obedience, believe it or not, go hand in hand, because in order for us to obey the Word of God we must be prepared to trust that what He says and does is His perfect will for us. God's perfect will is something we lowly humans have to learn to recognize because we seldom listen long enough to hear it.

Think of how happy we all would be if we bothered to listen to God's perfect will for each and every one of us. Think of how successful we all would be if we trusted Him enough to do as He dictates. Yet, it is easier to say "trust in God" than it is to actually do it. It is so much easier to simply do as we feel is right and forget all about asking for God's assistance. But as the song says, there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. Are we really happy when we do everything our way? Perhaps we think we are right off the bat, but when it comes right down to it, I know that I personally am always happier when I listen to God and do things His way rather than mine. The greatest proof of your trust in Christ, is to say to Him, "Lord, let thy will be done, not mine."