Trust and Obey … No other Way to be Happy!!

It is normally quite easy to trust God – after all He is the creator of all things, He is just and faithful, His loving-kindness does endure to all generations. But walking closely with the Lord, you are challenged constantly in your relationship with Him. His ways are not your ways, nor or His thoughts yours. As you walk in obedience, with the assurance that you will have your needs met, there are times when God’s method of meeting your needs does not line up with your logic and understanding. Think about our brother, Job.

God presented Job to the enemy as a sacrifice of faith – ‘The Lord said to Satan, “All right, do whatever you want with anything that he has, but don’t hurt Job himself.” Then Satan left the meeting. ‘ Job 1:12

In times like this, it is easy for us to dismiss hard times as a part of living and not recognize that they are tests of our obedience and devotion to Him. As a missionary, one of the hardest things that we do every day is depend upon the people of God to faithfully honor the financial commitments that they make; commitments that keep us on the field. We have found God to be faithful, but we have seen and are seeing more often nowadays moments when the faithful prove not to be so. Our temptation can be to just go return to ‘normal’ lives; or to feel like we are not fully supported because we have somehow failed both God and man. But as we look at the story of Job, we are reminded time and time again that God’s deepest desire is that we depend upon him desperately – yes DESPERATELY!

Desperation is such a difficult place, don’t you agree? But let’s return to Job’s story – at the end of it all in Job 42 – he says ‘“I know you can do everything. You make plans, and nothing can change or stop them. ‘ Job 42:2

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.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Yes indeed – a witness from a time long ago reminding us that even when the people of God are lulled into a sense of complacency and do not seem to be honoring God’s desire that we continue what we know God has called us to – we must never forget that God is in control and His plans cannot be thwarted.

As I started writing this post – I was feeling a bit discouraged – feeling a praise now coming up from within me that I just cannot keep to myself! Hallelujah! He Alone Is God! I’m singing right now:

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know, "Thus saith the Lord!"
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er;
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more!
Oh, for grace to trust You more!