Trust and obey?

When I was little I remember singing a song in Sunday School that went something like this:
Trust and obey
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus
Than to trust and obey

It was accompanied by a catchy little tune which is why I can still remember it today. It wasn’t a complex melody either, and the words were incredibly simple, and yet the truth in the song still resonates powerfully. As I hum it to myself I am more deeply challenged by it now than I was when I was a child.

I am [reasonably] well educated, and so I love getting to grips with things so that I can understand them. I guess it gives me a sense of control over things. This, however, is not how our faith works. How easy it would be if God called us to “understand and obey”; we would have no hesitation in doing things for God if we were able to fully understand them first. But God calls us to “trust and obey”, and it gets worse – our happiness is reliant on this!
This is not because God wants to keep us in the dark; it’s just that there are some things that we’ll never grasp this side of heaven. It just won’t happen, but we don’t like it that way. Our longing is to understand and accept, trusting makes us feel vulnerable.

“Mark this:” [Jesus said] “Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them. Mark 10:15-16

Children trust. They can’t help it, they seem perfectly happy to accept the limitations of their understanding. In fact they seem unbelievably happy! Here Jesus is trying to explain to us the importance of accepting God’s kingdom [and authority] in our lives. Realising this allows us the freedom to [really] enjoy God directing our lives.