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."

To just say it is one thing, but to really mean it is quite another. When you say it and mean it, that is when your life will change for the better. Though whatever happens may not seem like the best thing in your mind at first, you will grow to realize in the long run that it was for the best, because God makes no mistakes. He wants us to take our burdens to Him and leave them there. This is not going to make you irresponsible for your own troubles, but it will actually make your burdens lighter so you can handle them easier. Trusting God to tell you what to do and then obeying His commands and doing it, is the hardest and greatest challenge we Christians will ever face.

There are people out there who believe that God is only for the old testament, that He doesn’t really do anything in this world today. But they could not be more wrong. God is not only present and accounted for, but He is also still in charge and we need to learn to hand over the reigns to the Master once in a while, otherwise the stresses in our lives will be too great for us to handle. Stress leads to disease, and heartache, and it is a totally unnecessary element in our lives. I used to have stress so bad that I would fiercely ground my teeth in my sleep nearly every night. Several of my molars became cracked because of this behavior that I had absolutely no control over. The cause of this stress was my job, and once it went away, so did that horrible tooth grinding. Do you suppose God was trying to tell me that I needed to get out of that line of work, and I, as usual, was not listening? Anything is possible.

Taking our burdens to the Lord through prayer is one of the most beautiful and deeply personal relationships we humans will ever have. To be close to God is almost like a marriage between two people in love, but better, because He knows and understands your every need, every thought, dream and desire. He also knows what is best for you and will chastise you when you need it, same as He does with me, just like a parent would do with a way-ward child. God is both a Father to us and a friend who knows us better than we know ourselves, and He knows just exactly how much trial we can all take before we suffocate under the stress of it all. That is when He picks us up and carries us through the worst of it.

Do you trust your best friend with your most intimate thoughts and dreams? If so, then that is how your relationship with God should work as well. Listen to Him, talk to Him, trust in Him, and obey Him. Those are the keys to true happiness in this world as well as in the next. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.