“Trust and obey / for there’s no other way / to be happy in Jesus / but to trust and obey.” The refrain of the hymn Trust and Obey is simple, but truth sometimes is. This refrain reflects the words of Jesus in John 15:9-11, “As the Father loved me, I also have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” To abide in the love of Jesus and to know his joy, you must trust and obey.
These words rub evangelicals the wrong way. It sounds as if we are meriting God’s love. “Is Jesus telling us that abiding in his love is a works-based, meritorious abiding? Do we earn God’s love through our obedience?” The short answer to that is, “No,” but I will explain.
Keeping God’s commandments is not, nor ever has been, a matter of legalistic merit. God has never set up a system whereby we earn enough points to merit his love. This was not true before the fall or after. Keeping commandments is a matter of trust.
Consider the children of Israel after God delivered them from Egypt through the Sea. God promised to provide their daily bread. He had some commandments: collect manna each morning for six days; don’t keep it until the next morning; and collect double the amount on the sixth day because it will not be there on the seventh day. Simple enough. What did they do? They kept the manna until the next morning so that it bred worms, and they went out on the morning of the seventh day to collect manna. Why did they disobey God’s commands? You might say, “They had rebellious hearts.” True, but their rebellion was rooted in a fundamental lack of trust that God would provide for them as he said he would.
When we don’t obey authority, it reveals our fundamental lack of trust in the authority. He is trying to take something away from me. He is trying to make me unhappy. He is trying to hurt me or kill me. When a child disobeys a parent, the child is thinking (in part) that the parent is trying to keep him from having fun or keep something away from him that will help him. When a wife refuses to follow her husband, she is saying that he is incompetent, unable, lacks character, lacks knowledge, and/or lacks love for her, not having her best interests at heart. The same is true in relation to church and civil leadership. Sometimes there might be legitimate reasons not to trust leadership, but the fundamental principle remains: we don’t keep commandments because we don’t trust the authority, his knowledge, his ability, and/or his care for us. He is in it for himself and is only trying to oppress me for his purposes.
If we were to know that someone had infinite knowledge and wisdom, knowing us and our purpose thoroughly, knowing every possible outcome to every situation, and knowing the best course of action, and we knew that this person loved us beyond comprehension, only and always wanting what was best for us, it would stand to reason that we would obey his commandments even when we didn’t understand everything. He understands and cares for us. He wants what is best for us. We can trust him.
Obedience is not a matter of legalism but love. You can’t earn God’s love through works. God calls you to faith, an allegiance to him borne out of love for him, relying on his knowledge and love.
Abide in the love of God. Trust and obey.