Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.
-Isaiah 26:4 (NASB)
Some days are easier than others. In the words of the old cliché, "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." Or do they? When we are at a loss for answers to life's dilemmas, should we plow through full steam ahead? Or do we retreat, pray, and listen for God's leading?
Trust and Obey, a favorite gospel hymn of mine as a youth, has long been cited as a choice example of a balanced biblical view of a believer's faith in Jesus and the resultant good works that should then be evident as a disciple of Christ. Professing our faith is the first step, and then we spend the rest of our lives seeking to obey God's will in our daily living.
The inspiration for this hymn came at a D.L. Moody evangelistic meeting in Brockton, Massachusetts. Daniel Towner was the song leader that night in 1886, and he asked those congregated there to share their faith stories. Several stood and spoke of certain salvation. But then a young man rose and said, "I am not quite sure, but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey."
Towner couldn't forget that simple testimony. He jotted it down and sent it to John Sammis, a Presbyterian minister who had recently left a career in business to enter the ministry. Upon receiving Towner's request, Rev. Sammis first composed the familiar lines of the refrain, which then became the capsule thought for the verses.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. We know we love God's children if we love God and obey his commandments. Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. -1 John 5:1-3
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief nor a loss, not a frown nor a cross,
But is blest if we trust and obey.
Prayer for Today
Lord, help us to know the joy of trusting where we cannot trace, and leaning hard upon your promise of sufficient grace. Amen.
