Hymn: Trust and Obey

Written by John H. Sammis (1846-1919)

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His word,
what a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.

Refrain: Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
but our toil He doth richly repay;
not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
but is blest if we trust and obey. (Refrain)

But we never can prove, the delights of His love
until all on the altar we lay;
for the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
are for them who will trust and obey. (Refrain)

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,
or we'll walk by His side in the way;
what He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
never fear, only trust and obey. (Refrain)

Daniel B. Towner wrote: “Mr. Moody was conducting a series of meetings in Brockton, Massachusetts, and I had the pleasure of singing for him there. One night a young man rose in a testimony meeting and said, ‘I am not quite sure—but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey.’ I just jotted that sentence down, and sent it with a little story to the Rev. J. H. Sammis, a Presbyterian minister. He wrote the hymn, and the tune was born.”

The account is told of a pastor conference that Rev. Sammis attended where a worship director was leading and choose the hymn “Trust and Obey” not knowing that the author of the hymn was in attendance. In leading the conference, the worship leader directed that they sing the first, second, and fourth stanzas. But upon hearing that, the hymn writer politely interrupted the leader and said, “Sir, you must not do that. The entire reason I wrote the hymn is found in the third stanza.”

But we never can prove the delights of His love
until all on the altar we lay;
for the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
are for them who will trust and obey.

Do you see the key truth? The way to experience or (prove) the wonderful delights of God’s love is to surrender. Not just some of the things in our lives, or just partial things of our lives, but in laying it all on the altar. That’s what it means to trust and obey.