One night in the fall of 1886 at a Dwight L. Moody evangelistic meeting in Brockton, Massachusetts, a young man stood up to testify about his confidence of salvation. He said, “I am not quite sure,” meaning that he wasn’t really certain that God would save him from his sins. And then he continued, “But I’m going to trust, and I’m going to obey,” meaning that he planned to trust God for his salvation and to do what he could to obey God’s will.
“I’m going to trust, and I’m going to obey.” Daniel Towner (1850-1919) was the song leader for that meeting. He was so impressed by the young man’s testimony that he wrote down those words and stuck them in his pocket. Later, he wrote a friend in Iowa, Presbyterian minister John Sammis (1846-1919). In his letter, he told about the young man’s testimony and included the young man’s words: “I am not quite sure, but I’m going to trust, and I’m going to obey.” Sammis quickly transformed those words into a hymn chorus: “Trust and obey, For there’s no other way To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey.” Soon he had five stanzas to go with the chorus, and he sent them back to Towner, who composed the tune that we still sing today.
John H. Sammis was born in Brooklyn. New York. He later moved to Logansport, Indiana at the age of 22, where he became a businessman. After being converted to Christianity, he became an active member of the Y.M.C.A., and served as a secretary for the Association. Believing that He was called to preach, he studied at McCormick and Lane seminaries. After leaving the seminary he pastored some Iowa, Indiana, and Minnesota churches. In 1909, he became a teacher at the Los Angeles Bible Institute. He wrote over 100 hymn texts. However, “When we walk with the Lord” is the most prominent hymn out of all of them.
Daniel Brink Towner, the composer of the music for this hymn, was born March 5, 1850, at Rome, Pennsylvania, where he was reared, and received an solid education. His father, Professor J. G. Towner, was a singer and a music teacher of quite a reputation, and it was from him that the son received his early musical training. At the age of seventeen he traveled through Pennsylvania, southern New York and eastern Ohio as “the wonderful boy bass,” appearing in many concerts where he sang the popular bass solos of the day, such as “Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep,” “The Old Sexton,” “Down by the Sea,” “The King and the Miller.” A few years later he began to teach vocal music and conduct musical institutes and conventions. He also gained quite a reputation as an oratorio baritone soloist. From his early youth he had dreams of someday being a composer, and began to write songs and anthems even before he had studied harmony. Like many of our gospel song writers, he began by writing secular songs, some humorous, and some sentimental. But as he became more actively engaged in the conducting of church music, these others gave way for the gospel songs which have made him so widely known.
In December, 1870, Mr. Towner was married to Miss Mary E. McGonigle, who was a beautiful singer, and they soon settled in Binghamton, New York, where he had charge of the music in the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church. During these years he continued an earnest student and conducted many musical institutes and conventions in connection with his church work.
In the fall of 1882 he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where for two years he had charge of the music in the York Street M. E. Church. He was then called to the Union M. E. Church of Covington, Kentucky, where he remained until the fall of 1885, when he joined Dwight L. Moody in evangelistic work, conducting the music and singing solos in that connection in most of the large cities of the United States and Canada.
In late February 1887, Towner was with Dr. Munhall for revival services at Clarendon Street Baptist Church in Boston. News reports of that event explained how Towner was often joined in his ministry by his wife, Mary E. (McGonigle) Towner: Before and after the sermon, Dr. Towner and wife sang some duets. Towner’s full, rich baritone voice, accompanied by his wife at the organ, was a significant part of his popularity. He always intended to make the musical part of such evangelistic meetings fully as interesting as any part.
He also had charge of the music for several years at the College Students’ Conference at Mount Hermon and Northfield, Massachusetts. In the fall of 1893, he assumed the superintendency of music in the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, where by his ability as an organizer and teacher he succeeded in establishing one of the most unique and prosperous training schools for gospel singers in the world. It can be confidently said that most of the noted gospel singers of his day (around 1915) had either been trained by, or had personal contact with, Dr. Towner. In September, 1900, the degree of Music Doctor was conferred upon him by the University of Tennessee.
Dr. Towner was one among the world’s most prolific gospel song writers. He published more than two thousand compositions, and this only represents a part of his work as a musical composer. He edited in part, or wholly, fourteen books, three of which have been for male voices and one for female voices. His songs have literally “belted” the world, and are to be found in most of the hymn and tune books both in America and the British Empire. In his later years he spent considerable time in Great Britain in connection with large evangelistic meetings and prominent churches in London, Manchester, Dublin, Belfast, Dundee, and Edinburgh.
Dr. Towner was also by common consent one of the greatest evangelistic singers and leaders of his day. His ability to lead a great chorus and congregation was unsurpassed, while as a teacher of gospel song and composer he stood in the front rank. The following are a few of his most popular compositions: “Anywhere With Jesus,” “Trust and Obey,” “Paul and Silas,” “Redeemed,” “Nor Silver Nor Gold,” “Saving Grace,” “The Hand that Was Wounded for Me,” “Full Surrender,” “Would You Believe,” “Only a Sinner,” “Victory in My Soul,” “God’s Skies are Blue,” “Grace that is Greater Than Our Sin,” “Love Took Him to the Cross,” etc.
“Trust and Obey” is a simple but eloquent description of the heart of the Christian life. The two words convey much of the essence of Christianity. To trust is to depend on God with total confidence, not only for salvation, but also for guidance in every moment of life, especially in difficult times that challenge us. And to obey is to act in accord with what He has told us in His Word, even in those times when we don’t fully understand His design. God has revealed His character and His commandments with beauty and clarity in His Word. The pattern of the Christian life is to be one of learning and digesting what God has revealed. All of that revelation should lead us to trust Him in every detail and every day of our lives as we obey what He has shown us to be His will for us.
The combination of “trust” and “obey” is quite relevant to the perennial controversy over legalism and antinomianism that has sprung up again in modern evangelicalism. Legalism places the focus in Christian living on “the imperatives,” the things we ought to be doing to fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil, as we discipline ourselves for godliness. Antinomianism (which means against law) places the focus in Christian living on “the indicatives,” the fact that we are forgiven and inseparably bound to our Heavenly Father, that we are to live a life of joy resting in the fact that we have been justified. But the correct biblical perspective on this controversy is that both are essential for healthy living. We need to be living with the balance between fighting sin and growing in holiness (the imperatives) and also the restfulness of knowing and rejoicing that we belong to the Lord (the indicatives). We are to both trust (the indicatives) and obey (the imperatives).
The Bible contains many admonitions to believers to both trust AND obey, including Proverbs 3:5–6 (“Trust in the Lord with all your heart . . .”) and 1 John 5:2 (“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments,” ESV). Other references include Psalm 119:105 (“Your word is a lamp to my feet”), John 14:23 (“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him”), John 15:5 (“Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit”), Psalm 37:4 (“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart”), the parable of the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18–30), Revelation 21:3 (“He will dwell with them, and they will be His people”), and Isaiah 6:8 (“Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” “Here I am! Send me”).
Through this hymn, we have learned from childhood to pursue that goal as we have sung “Trust and Obey.” It has been a widely used and universally familiar phrase in Sunday School and all forms of children’s ministries. It is one of those unique gospel songs that have remained popular with adults well past their childhood days. Among those who have grown up in regular attendance at a local evangelical church, we would be hard pressed to find someone who has not sung this for their entire life.
Here are the lyrics to the five stanzas, beginning with the refrain with which each stanza concludes.
The refrain establishes the theme of the hymn. We should notice the exclusivity of the gospel. There’s no other way than trusting and obeying Jesus!
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Stanza 1 tells us of two benefits for those who trust and obey: His glory shines on us (2 Corinthians 3:18) and He abides with us (John 8:31).
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.
Stanza 2 goes on to describe a brightness spiritually that has benefits in two directions. Externally it drives away shadows and clouds (James 1:2). Internally it banishes doubts, fears, sighs, and tears (Psalm 37:3-5).
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
Stanza 3 looks realistically at the fact that we do endure various hardships (Galatians 6:2, 5). But for those who trust and obey, we will be repaid for our labors (Hebrews 6:10) and He will hear us when we cry in our distress (Psalm 118:5-8).
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 blessed if we trust and obey.
Stanza 4 draws from Romans 12:1-2 with the expression of “proving” (by experience) the delights of His love. Those verse also describe us as laying our lives, as it were, on an altar as a sacrifice of grateful praise (Genesis 8:20).
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.
Stanza 5 paints two beautiful pictures of ordinary saints like us, first sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to His words (Luke 10:38-42), and then second walking by His side (Colossians 2:6-7). But this is not a passive activity, but one that involves doing what He says and going where He sends, and doing so without fear.
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.
Here is a congregational singing of the hymn.