Trust and Obey

God is not very subtle at times. It may be because I'm more obtuse than some and need an attention getter. My attention was gotten Monday evening, but the left side of my brain is still trying to find some logical explanation. Over the years, I've taken many personality tests and more often than not, the indicators showed I should have been an engineer - it's that analytical, critical thinking, task orientation bent. There is always a tendency on my part to ask questions, second guess and doubt.

A friend (I'll call her "Marie" since I haven't asked her permission to share our conversation) and I were having dinner together before the Monday evening Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) meeting. We talked about a lot of things from grandchildren to how to "rag roll" a faux glazed wall to how you know when you have a personal relationship with God. Is that a gamut of topics or what!

Marie believes she has a personal relationship with God because there are times when what she says and does is not what she would say or do. She believes the words or actions are from the Spirit which fills her. I shared that I am a believer in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, but with lots of questions, of course, and that I'm not sure how I would define my own personal relationship with God, but that I want one. She counseled that it's an evolutionary process, not a lightening strike (my words, not hers). Prayer, reading the Bible - which is the Word of God - and trusting that God knows my heart are what's important. 

Marie asked me if I was familiar with the hymn, Trust and Obey. Anytime someone uses the word "obey", I have a reaction - not necessarily positive. I am a law biding citizen, but when I think of "obey" in the context of relationships, I get nervous. My reaction may come from a loving, but often head-butting kind of relationship with my own father. You can only imagine what it was like when he was trying to teach me to drive a stick shift vehicle. Even as an adult, with dad as a passenger, I can remember him telling me how to back out of my own driveway!

I told Marie that if I heard Trust and Obey, I might remember it, but I wasn't familiar with the title. It's been quite a number of years since I attended a church that sings traditional hymns. If fact, it's been a number of years since I've attended church on a regular basis at all. She quoted I Samuel 15:22 ...To obey is better than sacrifice... I must admit I'm still "chewing" on that one.

We went to the large group gathering at the start of BSF, where we sing a couple hymns and hear announcements before going to the smaller bible study groups. I had thought when my friend mentioned the song at dinner, wouldn't it be interesting if we sang the song at BSF.

We didn't sing the song during the opening, but something more interesting happened. While I was holding the hymnal with Marie, something fluttered to the floor between us. I bent down to pick it up. My eyes widened as I saw it was a copy of Trust and Obey from another hymnal. I knew it wasn't from the hymnal we were holding since the page numbers only go to 200 and something. The copy of Trust and Obey, was a single sided copy from page number 454. My first reaction was wow, but I thought, we'll probably sing it at the end of the evening. We didn't sing it at all.

So much for God being subtle with me. I took the page home. I do believe it's a personal message. I'm sure that at some time, many pages were copied and placed in the hymnals so all could sing the song as accompaniment for a certain sermon. But Monday evening, the song was given to me - to get my attention - to trust and obey. BonnieKingPhotography.com