Trust and Obey

When we walk with the Lord
in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.

Chorus
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear,
not a sorrow we share,
but our toil he doth richly repay;
not a grief or a loss,
not a frown or a cross,
but is blest if we trust and obey.

But we never can prove
the delights of his love
until all on the altar we lay;
for the favor he shows,
for the joy he bestows,
are for them who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet
we will sit at his feet,
or we’ll walk by his side in the way;
what he says we will do,
where he sends we will go;
never fear, only trust and obey.

The words to this hymn, especially the chorus, are rather simple words, and to some may even seem trite.  However, they are much more difficult to put into practice in your everyday life.  As a child, my parents asked me to do certain things – chores, stop aggravating my brothers, take a shower, etc.  Most of the time, even when I didn’t immediately obey, I knew the intent behind the reason for their request.  “Chores” – They needed help around the house.  “Stop aggravating” – they knew how overly sensitive my brothers were.  “Take a shower” – well, you get the picture.  I don’t think, however, that the same is true for God all the time.  There are many times God asked people in the Bible to do things that seemed rather odd to them, and probably to the others around them.  He didn’t always explain the reason why, He just gave them instructions.  God commanded Abraham to sacrifice His Son.  God commanded the Israelites to march around Jericho for 7 days and then blow trumpets.  Namaan to go down to the Jordan 7 times.  Jesus telling the disciples to throw their nets on the other side of the boat after they had fished all night.  To the receipients of these commands, these instructions seemed rather odd.  However, I think God had two purposes for using situations like this.  One was to find out “Do my followers really trust me?” and the second was to find out “Will they obey me?”  By picking extremely unusual circumstances, it showed the world that the miracle performed was an intervention of God.  Not something that man could do or contrive.  In regard to obedience, it was a test to see if they would do what God asks.  In I Samuel 15:22, after Saul had grown inpatient and had performed a sacrfice which he wasn’t supposed to do, the Bible says “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”  I want my children to obey me.  My parents wanted me to obey them.  And God wants all of us to obey Him.  Obey His commands that we find in Scripture, but also obey the Spirit’s leading in different areas of your life.  Sometimes He may even ask you to do something that seems a little odd.

There are a couple of other phrases in the hymn that I wanted to comment on as well:

• Verse 1 – “the light of His word” – The Bible says “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”  Have you ever walked in the woods at night with a flashlight?  If you are smart, you keep the flashlight a few feet in front of you to help you stay on the path.  If you point the flashlight only at your destination, there will be times that you stumble over logs, walk into thornbushes, or even frighten a little critter on the pathway.  A wise person uses the light to keep them on the path to get to their destination.  The same is true for the word in our life.  If we are looking for a detailed map of where you are going in life and are making decisions based upon where you think you are going, you will probably stumble along the way.  If however, we use the Word on a daily basis to govern our actions and rely on it to guide us daily, we can take comfort that He is leading us.
• Verse 2 – “our toil He doth richly repay” – Two times in the New Testament, Paul reminds us to “not grow weary in well-doing.”  The work that God has for us may sometimes seem like a burden and might even cause us sorrow and heartache.  Investing in people can make you weary.  However, God will “richly repay” us for the work that we do in His name, and we shouldn’t grow weary in doing what is right.
• Verse 3 – “all on the altar we lay” – There is a phrase in another old him that says “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.”  When we try and keep parts of our lives to ourselves (our spare time, our financial resources, the best that we have) and give God our “left-overs,” we will constantly be in a struggle.  His will versus our will.  His desires versus our desires.  However, when we can lay everything we have and all that we are on the altar to be used by Him, our lives will become more meaningful and our work more satisfying.

In Hebrews chapter 11 (the Faith hall of fame), the Bible says “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”   He trusted and obeyed, and so should we.