Trust and Obey

One of my favorite hymns is “Trust and Obey”, by John Sammis. It was the theme song of the first grade Bible curriculum I used for many years teaching in Christian schools. So sweet~so simple. I referred to the concept throughout the year as we learned about God’s sovereignty in our lives.  My lessons concluded with “God is God. He knows what He is doing. Everything He does is for our good and His glory. SOOO, trust Him and don’t worry about it. In other words, Trust and Obey! 

Well, Martha~ it is now time for you to put this into practice!

Martha had surrendered to Jesus’ Words, even though she didn’t ‘get it’ when she responded with “But I know…” in verse 22. She declared her belief in Jesus as Messiah, the Son of God, Who had come into the world to deliver the world from sin in verse 27. But those were WORDS! 

She had spoken her belief and trust. Now she must SHOW her belief and trust.

How often do we find ourselves in the same position? 

Circumstances are tough, and people look at us and say,“We know what she says, but look at how she LIVES!” How many of you have heard the saying, “Your talk talks and your walk talks, but your walk talks louder than you talk talks”? That is exactly the situation that Martha was about to face.

As we dig into John 11:38-39 we see that Jesus, the disciples, Martha and Mary, and their entourage of mourners had arrived at the tomb. Jesus now puts Martha to the ultimate test. Martha, it is time for you to demonstrate the belief you had just so boldly claimed a few minutes earlier. 

Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

 Permission to open the tomb was dependent on what Martha truly believed in her heart. Obedience was necessary to demonstrate to all those around her that what she had spoken earlier weren’t just flippant words, but were an expression of her heart.

Jesus had asked her in verse 26 if she believed.  He is now asking her, in verse 39, to SHOW she believed.

Martha, do you believe, REALLY?????

She responded with that one word again. The word we earlier proclaimed to be a word of sweet surrender (April 6-BUT)~ “BUT, Lord…”

This time, however, the conjunction flips to the other side of the coin. Instead of sweet surrender, it now becomes a word that demonstrates doubt and fear.

Last week, I pondered changing the name of the Good Ol’ Martha Award because every one of our names could be used in place of Martha’s. We believe. We truly believe! But it is so difficult at times to act on that belief!

Next time we will finish up this section and see what Martha ultimately DOES!

Walk your talk!

Debbie