Trust and Obey

I love singing the hymns I grew up with when I was younger (much younger.)
One such hymn was entitled "Trust and Obey."  Though I can't recall all
the words part of the refrain was "trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."  There's a lot of truth here and
I'm finding out more each day just how that gets put into practice.  Our Sunday
School material lately has been a Andy Stanley series on growing your faith.
The basic premise through it all is trusting God.  And I'm also finding out that
one must trust before one can obey.  These two things "trusting and obeying" lock
together and are necessary for spiritual growth.  If we can't trust Jesus to save
us from our sins then our salvation is that of works and that won't get us very far.
If we can't trust God to keep his promises then we might as well not go to church or
even read the Bible for then we make God out to be a liar.
But let me assure you that we can trust God, not only with keeping his promises
and not only for salvation from our sin but with every part of our lives!
Who knows what is best for us better than the one who designed and created us?
Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us of this when God says "I know the plans I have for you,
plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
We serve a God who is not bound by time and space as we are.  Not only is
he a God of our past, but of our present and future.  He is in control of it all
even when it seems things are out of control.  Dear friend, you CAN trust Him
with all you have; your hopes, your dreams, your desires, and even your worries.
But don't try to force your will on God.  Instead you must yield your will to His.
Wait patiently for Him to act in His time.  I can't begin to tell you all the times I've
not been patient and it ended in pain and heartache.  If we are trusting God day by day
then we will wait on Him and allow Him to work things out in His time which is perfect.

The photo illustration today is of a group of rafters going down 7 foot falls on the Chattooga River
in the upstate of South Carolina.  Though the rafters flipped out of their raft, God was still in their
future, knowing they would get flipped but still being there for them when they did.