The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
Trust and Obey
This week we found out that the two hotspots that showed up in Dan’s early September PET/CTscan were not cancerous. Between medical procedures and diagnostic tests related to events like this, there is always a lot of wait time. We’ve done this enough that we no longer engage in “what if” conversations and it seems these wait times have become just a normal part of our lives, as in “here we go again”. But through all of the medical stuff, we are learning to trust God more.
In Psalm 31:14-15, after a variety of calamities listed in verses 4-13, David reiterated his trust in God: “But I trusted in thee, O LORD. I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.”
In Proverbs 3:5 his son, Solomon, expanded on the need for trust in God, adding the necessity of wholehearted involvement with God: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
We trust God for all that He allows in our lives, thanking Him for Dan’s health clearance. But we would also have had to thank and trust God if those hotspots had proved to require chemotherapy or immunotherapy. We’ve been down this road before and we have seen what blessing and increased faith happens in our lives when we trust and seek His will for us in the middle of painful circumstances. Thanking God for everything is in obedience to His will (1 Thess. 5:18). The Westminster Catechism states that our “…chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever”. God is glorified in our lives mainly by our obedience.
One of my favorite hymns is “Trust and Obey” written by John H. Sammis and composed by Daniel Tanner in 1887. I can’t think of a better place to be than to walk in trust and obedience with Jesus:
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.
Refrain between each verse:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we 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 blessed 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.
