How are you going with trusting and obeying God?
There is a famous hymn written by John Sammis that says “trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.”
We all know that trusting and obeying God is the best thing for us to do but when it comes to actually doing it why do we struggle so much?
Today I want to suggest to you one thing that holds us back from trusting and obeying God.
That one thing is fear!
Fear manifests itself in different ways. I want to suggest three outworkings of fear that affect our trust and obedience to God.
Humiliation The fear that if we trust Him and obey we are going to be made to look like a fool. We are going to be left standing alone with everybody else laughing at us. In Psalm 25:3 David reminds us that no one who trusts in God will ever be disgraced.
Sacrifice The fear that if we trust and obey God our needs won’t be met. We won’t get to do what we want to do. Dying to self is very challenging but scripture tells us in Luke 9:24 that in dying to ourselves we will actually be found.
Hurt The fear that He will hurt us just as people in our life have hurt us. Because of that pain, we believe that the only person we can rely on is ourselves. Phil 4:7 … His peace will guard your heart and mind. God knows us better than we know ourselves that’s why He is the best one to protect our heart
When we are struggling with the fear associated with trusting and obeying we need to ask ourselves this important question
“Am I trusting in God for what He does for me, or am I trusting in who He is?”
If we trust in God only for what He does we plant ourselves on shaky ground because we don’t always understand what God is doing.
We read in Isaiah 55:8-9 that God doesn’t think like us and the way He does things is beyond what we can imagine. If we base His trustworthiness on what we see and what we perceive He is doing we can be deceived into thinking He is not trustworthy at all.
Whereas if we build our trust in who God is our trust rests on solid ground. Psalm 18:30 tells us He will never change and His ways are good and true. The God who we see on the pages of scripture is the same God walking right beside us today.
So do we know His character?
In the most difficult of situations are we able to still say with confidence that we know our God and we will continue to trust in Him.
If that is challenging for you to say can I suggest two important things that you can do to be able to answer that with confidence?
Get to know His character – We don’t often trust people we have just met. The trust I have in my husband has grown over the years as I have seen him live out his life and handle all sorts of situations. We have the same opportunity with God. Through the pages of scripture we get to see God’s character in action. We get to learn about Him and see His faithfulness. It’s with that knowledge that we build our trust in Him.
Start to step out in faith – Trust and obedience grow with action. When we courageously step out in trusting God He will be faithful to our obedience. When we experience His faithfulness our trust will begin to grow. The next time we face an opportunity to trust and obey we will be more likely to do it.
The reality is that no one has ever trusted and obeyed God perfectly except Jesus Christ. Learning to trust and obey is part of our refining process. It’s where we let go of ourselves and grab onto more of Him.
Lord,
I am sorry that I have let fear stop me from completely trusting and obeying You. Please help me to be courageous in stepping out and trusting You. I will also be intentional about learning who You are through Your precious word.
Amen
