I once bought a new kitchen for my house. It was a self-assembly kitchen. I was never very good at woodwork and stuff like that in school, so I was really pushing out the boundary of my ability, to say the least! I asked the guy at the store if it was easy to build the units. “Oh yes!” he said, “once you’ve done the first unit, the rest is easy.”<\/p>\n
He wasn’t joking! I think it took me three or four days to assemble the first one successfully. I actually assembled it lots of times, a different way each time – and I was always left with an extra bit at the end, and the extra bit wasn’t always the same extra bit! Finally, I understood what the instructions were trying to tell me – it wasn’t my fault, you see – they just weren’t speaking to me clearly enough. I hate instructions that mumble, don’t you?<\/p>\n
Some people don’t read instructions, some do. Some people don’t need to read instructions, because they know what they are doing. Some people really, really should read the instructions, because they inevitably end up phoning the people who know what they are doing – and for all my friends out there who have just bought a new computer – I am going to start charging!<\/p>\n
If all else fails, read the instructions, they say. I wonder what God says to that? I wonder if he sometimes thinks, “Here we go again….”<\/p>\n
It seems to me that we often batter on with our lives, get in yet another mess, and then decide that it is time we read the instructions. We turn to the greatest instruction manual ever written – the Bible, and ask God for help. We might open at Psalm 16 and read the very first verse –<\/p>\n
Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge. (NLT)<\/p>\n
That’s it! We start to take heart, our spirits lift from the gloom and doom. As we read on, we get more encouraged. We learn our lesson that when we chase other gods, our troubles or sorrows will multiply (v4). Yes! We are going to learn from our mistakes and get it right. This time it will be different!<\/p>\n
9 No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.
My body rests in safety.
10 For you will not leave my soul among the dead
or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.
11 You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence
and the pleasures of living with you forever.
(Psalm 16:9-11, NLT)<\/p>\n
We rejoice! Everything is going to be fine! Hallelujah! God will show the way!<\/p>\n
But wait. Remember the kitchen units? I had all the bits. I had the instructions, and the easy-to-follow diagrams. I could read the instructions, then build the units – and I did that on every occasion. But I still messed up. It was only when I followed <\/em>the instructions that I actually got it right.<\/p>\n The Bible is a wonderful set of instructions, and through it God will show us the way of life. But reading it isn’t enough, listening to God when he tells us the way of life isn’t enough. We have to follow the instructions.<\/p>\n So, when all else fails, follow<\/strong> the instructions!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I once bought a new kitchen for my house. It was a self assembly kitchen. I was never very good at woodwork and stuff like that in school, so I was really pushing out the boundary of my ability, to say the least! I asked the guy at the store if it was easy to build the units. “Oh yes!” he said, “once you’ve done the first unit, the rest is easy.”
\nHe wasn’t joking! I think it took me three or four days to assemble the first one successfully. I did it lots of times, a different way each time – but I was always left with an extra bit at the end, and the extra bit wasn’t always the same extra bit! Finally, I understood what the instructions were trying to tell me – it wasn’t my fault, you see – they just weren’t speaking to me clearly enough. I hate instructions that mumble, don’t you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3,17,413,32,38,48,55,75],"class_list":["post-2059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","tag-bibleblogs","tag-christ","tag-christian","tag-failure","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-lord","tag-trouble","category-5","description-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfWaLo-xd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7424,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2023\/06\/23-lashings-of-lashes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2059,"position":0},"title":"23 – Lashings of Lashes","author":"Robert Pender","date":"10\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7426\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There are a lot of things happen when you get chemotherapy, but everyone is different and it all depends on the recipe of drugs which they put into you for your particular cancer. Most people tend to think that hair loss is going to happen, and most\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7131,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/10\/7-the-big-sea\/","url_meta":{"origin":2059,"position":1},"title":"7 – The Big Sea","author":"Robert Pender","date":"27\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7132\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]For most of the first 20 years of my life I lived next to the Clyde, a beautiful river with stunning scenery around it. Where I was, the river was very wide and was for most of the time calm. Occasionally the wind would get up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7182,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/12\/11-held-and-healed\/","url_meta":{"origin":2059,"position":2},"title":"11 – Held and Healed","author":"Robert Pender","date":"03\/12\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7183\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\"][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_column_text] Held Well, that has been a bit of a week! Last weekend, I probably did a bit much. It's hard to tell, to be honest. In August I was as fit as a fiddle, now there are a few strings broken. I know I can't do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7224,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/12\/13-how-are-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":2059,"position":3},"title":"13 – How are you?","author":"Robert Pender","date":"10\/12\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7225\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\"][vc_column_text css=\"\"]Just three little words - How are you? How often do we say them? I think most of the time we don't even say them, we just let them out, because it's just a form of saying hello. Yes, we mean the hello bit of it,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4531,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2019\/05\/a-shadow-of-my-future-self\/","url_meta":{"origin":2059,"position":4},"title":"A shadow of my future self","author":"Robert Pender","date":"01\/05\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_single_image image=\"4532\" img_size=\"full\"][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_column_text css=\"\"]Many years ago I had a very sore back. It would come and go every few months. First one side would hurt and, just as it was getting better, then the other side would start to hurt. 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