Trust and Obey

Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life. The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law. When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O LORD. Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who forsake your law. Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning. I remember your name in the night, O LORD, and keep your law. This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts. (Psalm 119:49-56 ESV). The story is told that Neil Marten, a member of the British Parliament, was once giving a group of his constituents a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament. During the course of the visit, the group happened to meet Lord Hailsham, then Lord Chancellor, wearing all the regalia of his office. Hailsham recognized Marten among the group and cried, “Neil!” Not daring to question or disobey the “command,” the entire band of visitors promptly fell to their knees! They understood both the principles of “what” and “when” of obedience. A friend often told me about the problems that he had getting his son to clean his room. The son would always agree to tidy up, but then wouldn’t follow through. After high school the young man joined the Marine Corps. When he came home for leave after basic training, his father asked him what he had learned in the service. “Dad,” he said. “I learned what ‘now’ means.” When it comes to obedience, I am afraid that few of us question what God tells us to do, although many of us question the when we need to do it. God’s laws are given to us to be both a protection and provision in our lives. When God called Abram to leave his home in the Ur of the Chaldees and travel to a place he would be shown to receive the blessing of a great name, nation, and land, he packed up and left immediately. His faith caused him to act immediately. There is a stark contrast to that kind of obedience and that of the young man who went to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to be one of His followers. When Jesus told him to leave his home and come along, his reply that he had to wait until he had his business in order was completely unacceptable as far as Jesus’ expectation of discipleship were concerned. Archibald Rutledge wrote that one day he met a man whose dog had just been killed in a forest fire. Heartbroken, the man explained to Rutledge how it happened. Because he worked out-of-doors, he often took his dog with him. That morning, he left the animal in a clearing and gave him a command to stay and watch his lunch bucket while he went into the forest. His faithful friend understood, for that’s exactly what he did. Then a fire started in the woods, and soon the blaze spread to the spot where the dog had been left. But he didn’t move. He stayed right where he was, in perfect obedience to his master’s word. With tearful eyes, the dog’s owner said, “I always had to be careful what I told him to do, because I knew he would do it.” What is the Lord telling you to do today? Are you willing to be obedient? Can you echo the words of the psalmist today? Is obeying the Lord your happy way of life?