Trust and Obey
Today the words came to mind from Proverbs 3:5-6: “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.” There can be no greater centering and grounding truth for our daily lives than this one. Trust in the Lord will all you heart. Why is it so hard for us to do this?
First, we think are supposed to have everything figured out. We live in an age where we have access to so much information that we live with the expectation that we can predict the future with reasonable certainty. We look to experts who will tell us how the economy will look. We look to experts who tell us how elections will results with develop. We look to experts who tell us how diseases will affect us. The experts can be right often enough to have some modicum of credibility.
We begin to think we should have this kind of ability with our lives. Because the experts can predict the future we should be able to predict ours. We should have everything figured out for next week, next month, next year, and for the rest of our lives. It is possible to attempt to live this way but it will leave you weary and anxious beyond belief.
Second, we doubt God’s goodness. We worry that if we trust God with our lives that He will make us miserable. The devil loves to deceive us into thinking that God is harsh and cruel and intends to deprive us. This was Satan’s argument to Eve back in the Garden of Eden. The fallen world in which we live today that groans under the weight of sin ought to be exhibit A of why this argumentation is so false. God is good and what He does is good!
Third, we doubt God’s ability to direct our steps. More specifically, we often think we can do a better job ourselves. We worry that if we trust God, our lives will spin off into chaos. To that Scripture gives a promise: “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3:6). God will make our paths straight. Don’t believe me? Ask Abraham. Ask Joseph. Ask Elijah. Ask Peter, James, and John. God is faithful and He will direct our steps. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You don’t have to know all the answers. You just need to trust God and obey Him. Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds me of the words to the old hymn:
But we never can prove
The delights of His love,
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows,
And the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey
for there is no other way
to be happy in Jesus
than to trust and obey.