Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. (Proverbs 3:7)

 In 1887, John Sammis penned the words of the all-time Christian favorite hymn “Trust and Obey.” The words of this hymn are as true today as they were when John Sammis wrote them. 

The refrain of the Hymn reads:

“Trust and obey, for there is no other way.

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

The message is apparent: if we want to be happy in Jesus, there is no other way but to trust and obey Him. Paradoxically, trusting and obeying God have been the fiercest battleground amongst God’s people from the Old to the New Covenant. 

In Proverbs 3:7, Solomon beautifully interweaves trust and obedience. Can you see trust and obey in this verse?: “Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” He begins by urging us not to be wise in our own eyes—to trust God’s wisdom. And when we trust that God knows better, we obey Him, keep His commandments, and depart from evil. When we trust and obey God, we essentially thrust our lives into His hands. We put aside our understanding and yield our will in not doing what we would otherwise like to do. 

Two familiar words encapsulate both ideas of trust and obey: surrender and faith. As we surrender to God, we allow His wisdom to guide us and yield our will to His will. Furthermore, faith is essentially trusting God and obeying His word. As John Sammis reminds us, the flourishing Christian life is a surrendered life. 

Furthermore, the Lord once told me, if I do not die, good things will die in my life. We cannot have heaven’s best until we surrender our lives to trust and obey Him.

How is trust related to obedience? Can you see why true faith always has obedience in it?

Apply the Word

As a believer, you have already trusted and obeyed God: you trusted that Christ died for your sins, and you obeyed the Gospel and believed in Him. So, trusting and obeying is not new to you; God wants you to continue to trust and obey in every aspect of your life.

Ask the Spirit to strengthen you to trust and obey Him at all times. 

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