The Song Born from a Simple Promise

In 1887, musician Daniel Towner was leading worship at a Dwight L. Moody evangelistic crusade when something unexpected happened during the testimony time. A young man — whose name history never recorded — stood before the crowd. He was not eloquent. He did not have a dramatic conversion story. He simply said, "I am not quite sure about everything, but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey."

Towner was so struck by those words that he scribbled them down and later sent them to the hymn writer John Sammis. From that one unremarkable testimony came one of the most enduring hymns in Christian worship: Trust and Obey.

What strikes me about this story is that the young man did not wait until he had all the answers. He did not demand certainty before taking a step. He simply decided that what he knew about God was enough to act on.

That is the heart of obedience. It rarely arrives with complete understanding. Abraham did not know where he was going when the Almighty told him to leave Ur. Mary did not fully grasp the angel's message when she answered, "Let it be to me according to your word."

Obedience is not the absence of questions. It is the decision to move forward anyway, trusting that the One who calls you is faithful enough to follow.

What is God asking of you today that you have been waiting to fully understand before you obey?