{"id":14788,"date":"2024-05-27T17:29:15","date_gmt":"2024-05-27T17:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/?p=14788"},"modified":"2024-05-28T16:07:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T16:07:56","slug":"thesimplicityoftrustandobedience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/th\/thesimplicityoftrustandobedience\/","title":{"rendered":"The Simplicity of Trust and Obedience\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every joy and blessing and success I\u2019m experiencing today (today I \u201ccelebrate\u201d turning 55 and qualifying for the senior discount!), I owe to God’s grace and the simplicity of the Christian life expressed in the lyrics below. When I have\u00a0through grace<\/em>\u00a0most conscientiously and consistently delighted in the Father\u2019s will, through the provisions of Jesus, by the power of His Spirit, I have experienced\u00a0more grace<\/em>; \u201cfor the favor he shows, for the joy he bestows, are for them who will trust and obey.\u201d\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not a shadow can rise,\u00a0
not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away.
Not a doubt or a fear,\u00a0
not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey. [Refrain]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not a burden we bear,\u00a0
not a sorrow we share,\u00a0
but our toil he doth richly repay.\u00a0
Not a grief or a loss,\u00a0
not a frown or a cross,\u00a0
but is blest if we trust and obey. [Refrain]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we never can prove,
the delights of his love,\u00a0
until all on the altar we lay.\u00a0
for the favor he shows,\u00a0
for the joy he bestows,\u00a0
are for them who will trust and obey. [Refrain]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in fellowship sweet\u00a0
we will sit at His feet,
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do,\u00a0
where He sends we will go,
Never fear, only trust and obey.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refrain:
Trust and obey,
for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus,\u00a0
but to trust and obey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The power and beauty of this\u00a0uncomplicated<\/em>\u00a0truth cannot be overstated! But if I\u2019m honest, I must admit that some of the many sorrows and losses I\u2019ve experienced in life can also be traced to moments of disobedience, delayed obedience, or\u00a0selective<\/em>\u00a0\u201cobedience;\u201d those moments of carelessness when I thought the little things didn\u2019t matter so much until I realized\u00a0again<\/em>\u00a0that they did. Even then, in moments of defeat, I\u2019ve experienced God\u2019s goodness. His goodness has led me to repentance, disciplined me, and reminded me that I\u00a0remain<\/em>\u00a0His\u00a0respected<\/em>,\u00a0highly regarded\u00a0<\/em>son. This is the beauty of the gospel, and I\u00a0cling\u00a0to it and try to preach it to myself every day, including on my birthday!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps I\u2019m not the only one who needs to reflect on this simple truth today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Father of Jesus, remind us today that the life of Jesus was one of obedience, and that the obedient life is the desired, disciplined, and enabled life of every Jesus follower.  Through Jesus, amen. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every joy and blessing and success I\u2019m experiencing today (today I \u201ccelebrate\u201d turning 55 and qualifying for the senior discount!), I owe to God’s grace and the simplicity of the Christian life expressed in the lyrics below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":14791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14790,"href":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14788\/revisions\/14790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shepherdsglobal.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}