The Song Born from a Stammering Testimony

In 1887, during one of D.L. Moody's evangelistic meetings, a young man stood to share his testimony. He was not eloquent. He had no polished words or dramatic conversion story. He simply said, "I'm not quite sure about everything, but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey."

Daniel Towner, who was leading the music that evening, was so struck by the young man's unvarnished honesty that he scribbled the words down and sent them to pastor and professor John H. Sammis. From that stammering, unrehearsed testimony came one of the most enduring hymns in Christian worship: "Trust and Obey."

What strikes me about that moment is what the young man did not say. He did not say, "I understand everything now." He did not say, "I have all the answers." He said he would trust, and he would obey. He put obedience before certainty.

That is often how God works. He rarely gives us the full map before asking us to take the first step. Abraham left Ur before he knew the destination. Moses raised his staff before the sea parted. Mary said yes before she understood how.

Obedience is not the fruit of having every question answered. It is the decision to move forward while the questions still linger. The Almighty does not demand that we understand everything. He asks that we trust Him enough to do the next right thing.

When we obey before we fully comprehend, we discover that faithfulness was the answer all along.