As a rule, we humans are poor at following instructions. We’ve all heard the anecdotes of the dad who assembled the Christmas presents and didn’t “need” the accompanying instructions, the user who called tech support before consulting the user’s manual, and the kitchen “expert” who didn’t need the recipe. As I write this, I have been observing drivers blatantly ignore a sign in a parking lot marked “exit only.” The particular portal is marked for exit only for very good reasons – the angle of the parking places, the flow of traffic around the restaurant, the location of the drive-through. While a directional sign in a restaurant parking lot is trivial in the grand scheme of life, my observations plunged my thoughts deeper into the daily, observable behavior of people. I don’t believe we fail to follow instructions because we neither have them nor understand them, but because we believe that we are smarter than those who made the rules and know a better way. We place ourselves above the rules. Solomon observed the same pattern of behavior and indicated that pattern’s inevitable outcome.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death – Proverbs 16:25
We may have some successes with the minute decisions of life, but when it comes to worldview or our matrix for decision-making, we cannot depend on human understand apart from the truth of God’s Word. Yet, how often do we fail to consider God’s counsel, rationalize Gods Word to say what we want it to say, or worse yet, ignore it all together, when deciding what we believe to be the right thing to do? God’s Word provides everything we need for a successful life. We are wise to consider the counsel of others, BUT ONLY if their counsel is shaped by the truth of God’s Word also.
So I challenge you to read, study, and live God’s Word regularly. It is our only sure and infallible instruction book for a successful life. What practical steps are you taking today to order your life around God’s Word? Where in God’s Word are you reading? Do you journal to keep a record of what God is teaching you and how you are learning to live His truths? And then, what will you do when God’s Word instructs you in the way you should life? Will you follow it or your own understanding?
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. – Joshua 1:8
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in His ways, and by keeping His commandments and His statutes and His rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.” – Deuteronomy 30:15-16
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17