Trust And Obey
Trust and obey…just three simple words; yet they hold the key to everything we believe and hope for in Jesus. Even though we say and hear them often and they just roll off our tongues, I can’t help wondering how many of us truly understand what they mean and their vital necessity to us as Christians. I started thinking about this post and working on it after watching Dr. Charles Stanley’s message last Sunday about the role obedience played in Peter’s life, and I’ve really enjoyed the Bible study. But like most people who really understand it, I learned the significance of trust and obey through my own life experiences which PROVED to me beyond a shadow of doubt that there IS no other way to be happy in Jesus, just like the song says. And I can’t help wondering if it’s even possible to understand what trust and obey really means without the life experiences it takes to teach us.
It’s just not our nature to believe something without evidence or pretty good reason to believe it. We are naturally inquisitive and want answers, so we want to understand and know what is going on and why it’s going on, how long it will go on and how it will conclude. But all of that is totally contrary to trust in the sense God means it, because trust is synonymous with faith and believing, and one or more of those words are used in many of the Bible verses we rely on the most, especially as we stand for the restoration of our marriages.. But the best way to understand the awesome blessings and power it releases and what God thinks about trust is to read and study what His word tells us about it. And even though there were over 160 verses in the NIV with the word trust in them (according to BibleGateway.com), these are the ones that seem to help us gain the best understanding of trust, especially as it applies to our walk with the Lord as we stand for our marriages. Some may seem very similar or duplicated, but since that indicates their significance I included all of them. So please study them and meditate on them, taking the time to really consider each one:
Psalm 9:9-10
The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 13:5
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Psalm 22:5
They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
Psalm 26:1
Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.
Psalm 33:20-22
We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.
Psalm 37:5-6
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
Psalm 56:3-4
When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
Psalm 84:11-12
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.
Psalm 91:1-3
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.
Psalm 112:7
He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
Psalm 119:41-42
May your unfailing love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise; then I will answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in your word.
Psalm 143:8
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 16:20
Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.
Proverbs 29:25
Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.
Isaiah 26:3
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
Isaiah 28:16
So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.
Jeremiah 17:7
“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
Nahum 1:7
The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,
Zephaniah 3:12
But I will leave within you the meek and humble, who trust in the name of the LORD.
John 14:1
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
Romans 9:33
As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
Romans 10:10-11
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 4:2
Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
1 Peter 2:6
For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
Wow! There’s an awful lot in those verses and they make it very clear why trust is such an important component of our walk and relationship with the Lord. However, if we’re not able to put our trust in Him and everything promised in His word, especially the above verses, we’ll probably find it very difficult to obey Him, because obedience, PRACTICING THE WORD, and not just hearing the word, almost always requires us to act contrary to our nature. But when we trust God and take Him at His word, we’ll understand why trust AND obey is SO important, and realize that we really don’t have a better option. The following verses help us understand how important obedience is in our lives as Christians, so it’s important to study and meditate on them too (over 220 verses contain obey):
Psalm 119:66-68
Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.
Psalm 119:101
i>I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.
Ecclesiastes 8:5
Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
Isaiah 50:10
Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.< Jeremiah 7:22-23
For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.
Jeremiah 11:7
From the time I brought your forefathers up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, “Obey me.”
Jeremiah 26:13
Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you.
Jeremiah 32:23
They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey you or follow your law; they did not do what you commanded them to do. So you brought all this disaster upon them.
Jeremiah 35:13
“This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, ‘Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?’ declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 40:3
And now the LORD has brought it about; he has done just as he said he would. All this happened because you people sinned against the LORD and did not obey him.
Ezekiel 20:11
I gave them my decrees and made known to them my laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them.
Hosea 9:17
My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him; they will be wanderers among the nations.
Matthew 19:17
“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
Luke 11:28
He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
John 14:15
“If you love me, you will obey what I command.
John 14:21
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
John 14:23
Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
John 15:10
If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
Acts 5:29
Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!
Acts 5:32
We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Romans 2:13
For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
Romans 6:16
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Galatians 5:7
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?
Philippians 2:12-13
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Hebrews 11:8
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
1 John 2:3
We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
1 John 2:5-6
But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
1 John 3:21-22
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
1 John 5:2-4
This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
Revelation 14:12
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.
And listening to Charles Stanley’s great message about Peter and the role “trust and obey” played in his life, God Always Rewards Obedience, will help us learn to TRUST Him to do that, and understanding and believing the above passages of scripture give us the biblical foundation we’ll need. So be blessed and encouraged!