“And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”–1 Samuel 15:20-22
In 1886, a musician named Daniel Towner was taking part in a D. L. Moody revival campaign in Brockton, Massachusetts. He recounted an experience that took place during a testimony service. A young man described the struggles he had been facing. Towner wrote that he said, “I am not quite sure—but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey.” Struck by the turn of phrase, Towner wrote it down and sent it to a pastor named John H. Sammis along with the story. In a few days he received back the poem we know as the song “Trust and Obey.”
When we walk with the Lord in the light of his Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
When 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.
There is no obedience to God without faith. If we do not trust Him, we will not obey what He commands and avoid what He forbids. We must believe God can be trusted. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).
