Following Instruction
As a regular baker and cook, I’ve learnt that every ingredient is key to having the end product come out as promised. I made lasagna recently and substituted a few ingredients and added a bit of my own. Though it tasted good, it didn’t really look like the picture. I was most disappointed in the topping because instead of using a mixture of two types of cheese, I just used one, cheddar, so it was annoyingly bright yellow.
From last week I’ve been pondering on how the same applies with God’s instructions. If what he promised is what shall be the end result, then we need to follow instructions. And not just some instructions, or the majority of the instructions, but ALL of them. I need to follow what God says about believing him as much as I listen to what he says about the way I use my mouth. I need to follow instructions pertaining to how I treat others as much as how I treat my body. No instruction is less, it all works to bring me to the promised result. In his Word, God literally talks about every aspect of our lives, and in order to live the abundant life he’s called us to, we really need to follow all instructions.
Thing is, we tend to pick and choose, we take away from and add to the instruction; we substitute and modify, and then are surprised when the result is different from what we expected. We need to understand that following in one area doesn’t replace the need to follow in another. My giving can’t replace my fellowship as much as my love for and devotion to God can’t replace the duties I have towards loving and serving my family. God had and still has a very straight forward way of dealing with us when we behave this way. He withdraws the reward of our doing so the results aren’t what is expected or are just not there. Case in point: He decides to not hear or respond to the prayers of husbands who mistreat their wives (see 1 Peter 3:7, Malachi 2:13-14), so even if they could pray until they passed out, they wouldn’t see the results of their prayers.
God is specific because he has a purpose for everything he says. Every instruction serves a particular purpose. I thought of Noah. God gave him a lot of instructions pertaining to the ark he was to build. He told him about the kind of material he was to use, about its interior design and exterior build, it’s dimensions and access points. Each had a purpose. He instructed him to use cypress wood because cypress is known to have a natural preservative which makes it water-resistant and longer lasting. God knew the amount of water the ark would have to withstand and for what duration, so he also instructed that it be coated with pitch inside and out. He told him how wide, long and high it should be and that it had to have lower, middle and upper decks because he knew how many animals it needed to carry.
Now imagine if Noah made modifications and alterations. Imagine if he used sycamore wood instead because cypress trees were too far, or if he used something else to coat it because pitch was too much of a hard process to make. Imagine if he only coated it on the inside because that should be good enough or only made two decks because, ‘seriously, how many animals could there be’. The ark would have been a total failure, probably sinking on day two of the floods. But it was a historic success because of one key verse: “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” Genesis 6:22
When our arks sink, we tend to look for someone to blame just like how Adam blamed Eve. We fail to look within ourselves to see what we missed or didn’t do as instructed. As much as God loves us, he lets us face the consequences of our failure to keep to the instructions because he is holy and just. What he said about us is not less true when we fail and that’s key to us getting up and trying again because his Word remains the same. Jonah knows this well. After he nearly died going against the instruction, he returns to God only to find that the instruction hadn’t changed, he still had to go to Nineveh.
May this stumbling sheep keep finding her way and following the Good Shepherd until he leads her to the promise land, until she reaches home.
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