Troubleshooting My Christian Walk

We sang a song in church when I was a kid that I thought was so corny. The music style seemed like an old Barbeshop tune, and the words didn't seem to have the loftiness of other hymns. It wasn't until recently that I took the time to take a close look at the words.

It was then that I realized how complicated I was making my life as a christian, when it really is as simple as the title of that hymn: "Trust & Obey".

This simple direction can be found throughout the scriptures. Among them, these passages:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on
your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
Him and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3: 5-6
NASB)

Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. (Romans 1:5 NIV)

Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. (I Corinthians 9:13 NIV)

But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (I Samuel 15:22 NIV)

So simply put, trusting God comes first, then obedience to His Word. ("Trust & Obey" as the old hymn says) not the reverse (Romans 1:5).

Whenever I see that my growth as a Christian seems stunted, I'm generally unhappy, and when it seems like what I read in the Bible is just words on the page instead of the Living Word, I have to ask myself, " Is there an area in my life where I am disobeying (that includes delaying obeying) what God has already revealed to me from His word? Is there something the Spirit of God has been urging me to do (or stop doing) that I have ignored or put off?

Trust & Obey

(Words John H. Sammis; Music Daniel B. Towner)

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.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.