To Trust and Obey a Loving God

I don’t recall where I read recently, ‘Why is it easier to obey God than to trust him?’. It really brought to the forefront the struggle that is in me to trust and to obey – they are tied to one another, are they not?

Why do we obey? Is it merely for the reward we get from doing it? Like children in the classroom who finish their work and get a sticker?

Why do we obey? Is it to avoid the negative consequences or punishment? Like the slave who works to the bone to avoid the whip?

The bottom line: Is it the carrot or the stick?

Does he reward us? Yes, absolutely. But he wants our heart and not only our actions.

Does he also discipline us? Yes, absolutely. But he wants us to trust him, not fear him.

Perhaps the key to the obedience in the last comment, that he wants us to trust him and not fear him or seek a reward or blessing.

What ties obedience and trust together?

Both the carrot and the stick relate to transactions and not relationships. So, I have a hard time thinking that either is the right thing when it comes to obeying God.

God created us to relationship with him. His pursuit of us through the whole of the Bible has to do with seeking relationship. He wants relationship because he is love. Love drives his actions and his being.

So, too his request of obedience has to do with relationships.

We don’t start relationships as ‘besties’. We start relationships slowly and they build over time. On person risks rejection by asking for a coffee meet-up. The other steps out and invites the acquaintance to have lunch at home or get their kids together at the pool. And it builds from there.

God does the same with us. He opened the relationship with an invitation to walk with him. And we build the relationship from there.

We are in loving relationship

Since God is love, our relationship with him is filled with love. Do we believe it? Do we trust it?

Do I believe that he loves me? Why else be in relationship if not for love? Anything else would be a transaction. So, love is there. Do I believe that he loves and does for my good?

When I trust him, that he loves me and does for my good, then I obey without question. My obedience is not hindered by fear of consequences, and I know that he does things that only benefit me. He invites me to act in trust.

He does not ask me to act in understanding.

Knowing God’s love personally and loving him back

The foundation of trust that develops between us is knowing the love of God for me. I ask him, he asks me, and we grow in our relationship - in obedience as in trust. He asks for a walk in the garden, to spend time with him. In spending time with him, I love him too.

He asks for me to watch that Satan is crouching at the door, to do good. And this is easy because I know him and trust him as my love has grown. I trust that he asks me to carry out things that will also bless me – is that not love? Love is wanting good for the other and doing it.

Love drives my obedience.

Then, is it easier then to trust or to obey?

I guess obedience could be easy, like obeying the stop sign. We do it out of habit and training. But that will only get us so far, until we meet a sign we have never seen before and need more than just rules to go by. Then we have to trust.

For myself, I’m not sure I can separate the two, honestly. I find that trusting him means that I have no problem obeying him. And when I do have a problem obeying, then I know I can turn to him to shore up that trust, so that I do obey.

Trust also means risking when I obey. I may risk my status quo or my desires. But as I grow in my relationship with him, the desires of my heart turn into the desires he has for me. And obedience becomes doing what he leads me to do and being who he has led me to be.

What drives obedience

I’ve not got much of the Bible here (not quoting verses), just musings. But there is a question I’d like to pose to you. What, other than a love relationship, would drive

A man to sacrifice his own son? Abraham in Gen. 22

A woman to risk her life only to beg for the lives of others? Esther in Est. 5

Men to leave their livelihood and follow an itinerant teacher? Peter, Andrew, James, John in Matt. 4:18-22

These are the accounts from the Bible that come to mind. People who have obeyed and yet I cannot see a reward nor a personal punishment for not obeying. I see many reasons not to obey in fact. I am left thinking that only the relationship we have with God, a relationship of love and trust are what drive our obedience.

Share your trust examples if you would! How have you trusted and obeyed our loving God?