Hey babe

come here

come take a look

I can’t find it

The instruction book

you have asked

and asked, and asked

and I here I sit

I can’t do this task

I can’t put it together 

without reading first

without the manual

this job is the worst..

 

The parts are here

I need to read

I need instruction

I need to heed

the correct way

to do this job

so I don’t waste time

like that goofball, Bob.

 

He always tries

to do things alone

always states

in condescending tone

“I do life better”

“My work is great”

“Everything I do”

yet, his son, Nate

He graduated

first in his class

But still he is sitting

down on Bob’s grass

He’s not even working

to pay off the debt

education gifted

with little regret

‘Cause Bob told him

just do well

and I’ll pay it off

oh, do tell

that is much better

than working hard.

While the weeds

grow in Bob’s yard

 

Don’t get me started

on Bob’s truck

the one broke down

It’s literally stuck

and he walks around

yapping at me

about how he’s gifted

mechanically.

 

Na, I’m not trying

to put this together

all on my own

I’d much rather weather

This storm of parts

and where they should go

With the book

that tells me so

in plain words

simply revealing

I don’t want to sit

mind a-reeling.

 

Please pass me the book

that came along 

and I’ll put it together

it won’t take long

 

The book was found

and he read it all

gathered the pieces

the bookshelf stood tall

In way less time

than estimated

The furniture stood

cause he dedicated

5 extra minutes

to reading “how-to”

and he went on to the next

honey-do

It’s a simple thing.  Or at least it seems simple enough.  You get a piece of furniture and put it together.  You know the shape it should be in the end, so you look at the pieces and just slap it together without even looking at the instruction manual.  Yet, in the end piece A was super important and slightly different than the rest, so the 45 minutes spent putting most of the pieces together were wasted, simply cause you didn’t look at the book.

That’s life.  So much time can be wasted, going through each day, knowing what it is suppose to look like and yet, you forgot about the instruction manual.  Trying to do life on our own is silly, we can be like that goofball Bob, from the rhyme, or we can do things easier by reading an instruction manual.  God gave us the instruction manual – a gift! – and many of us have forgotten how important it is to read it.  Life gets all jumbled up and we end up wasting time trying to do it alone.

The Bible is Alive and full of God’s great wisdom.  It’s words are only revealed to us when we need them.  Some passages can be confusing, but that is only because it is not meant for us at that time in our lives.  God will give us what we need for that day.  He is wise, so wise.  His wisdom is omnipresent and omnipotent. I am so thankful for that. If it was not so, He would not be God.  Let Him be in charge of what we need to know for each day.  In submission, we must allow Him to speak to us and reveal the “need to know” for that given day.  We must allow Him to guide us through the Bible.

I believe it is a good practice to pray before I read God’s word.  

Dear Lord, please guide me through my day.  Please open up the clues and instructions to help me navigate this part of my life.  You know exactly where I am, what struggles I am trying to overcome, what joys I give to you.  You know the people I am praying for and the projects I am building for you.  I don’t want to do it alone.  I know the Bible is your present and alive spoken word.  Please reveal what I must know from it today.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

When we pray we are speaking to the Lord and He promised us this:

John 16

Jesus Warns and Comforts His Disciples

16 “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. ² They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. ³ And these things they will do ^[a]to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. ⁴ But these things I have told you, that when ^[b]the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.

“And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

⁵ “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹ of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ¹¹ of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority,but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He ^[c]will take of Mine and declare it to you.

Sorrow Will Turn to Joy

¹⁶ “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.”

¹⁷ Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not ^[d]know what He is saying.”

¹⁹ Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? ²⁰ Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. ²¹ A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.²² Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

²³ “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.²⁴ Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Jesus Christ Has Overcome the World

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; ²⁷ for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. ²⁸ I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! ³⁰ Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.”

³¹ Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ³² Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his ^[e]own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ³³ These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you ^[f]will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

When we ask for wisdom and help, He will be there with HIS wisdom, and He will give us what we need.  We must remember that the instruction manual is there to give us the Way, but the Way is HIS way, not ours.  If we fight the instructions and the gifts, we will not be blessed.  There may be a fish ready to swallow us and put us back on the path God gave us.  Figuratively speaking of course.  God’s wisdom is better, just like the book of Hebrews describes.  Jesus is better in all things, when we rely on His “better-ness” we find joy in all things, because…well, He is better.

Next time I am faced with something I need to put together, I need to remember to go get my Bible, pray that God would reveal His Words of help and allow me to trust Him in all things.  Giving it all to Jesus each day will allow me the comfort that I desire.  I don’t want to do things alone.  I have proven time and time again, that it just doesn’t work, it makes things worse.  My best intention is nothing compared to God’s Great Instruction.

Dear Lord, thank you for another day, beginning with you.  Thank you for Your Instruction manual that we have readily available and that we live in a country that still allows us to read it.  We are fighting right now for the right to Love you, Jesus, and we need to preserve that right.  Please give us strength and perseverance as we struggle and are persecuted.  Please give me the strength to be bold as a lion, but not for me, only to glorify You. The Bible is an essential part of the Christian walk.  The second I try and do things alone, it seems to crumble.  But when I start my day with you, and submit to you, the day has Your Joy injected and that is so comforting.  The joy of the Lord is my strength.  I can do all things in that day, because of You.  Thank you Jesus for this born again life in you.  Thank you for changing me from the inside out and please continue to change me more to be less of my sinful self and more like Jesus, Your One and Only Son.  Thank you for Salvation and for loving me in spite of my sin and my shame.  Thank you for never leaving me when I strayed and for allowing me a second chance to love you better.  Thank you for forgiveness of my faults and my weaknesses.  Thank you that salvation doesn’t mean I am perfect, but that YOU are perfect and you give me a guide and comfort when I trip and fall.  I love you Jesus.  Thank you for this day.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen