FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS

When All Else Fails, Read the Instructions

by
John G. Nichols

Several months ago my wife, Betty, came across a Rubik's Cube that had been stored for several years. She put it out on the coffee table and I started to try and solve it but got nowhere. So I dug out a booklet of instructions and tried again. The Rubik's Cube is solved one layer at a time and I soon learned to solve the top layer. Then I followed the instructions and the diagrams showing how to move the cubes for the middle layer. I would almost have it corrected when the colors would get messed up. I figured the instructions must be wrong for I had followed them very closely. This happened several times with each time I would get further along before it would be messed up again. Finally I had the top and middle layers corrected and felt good about getting that far along.

The Problem

Then I followed the instructions to correct the last layer. As I turned the cubes this way and that, closely following the instructions, the layers would again get messed up and I had to start over again from the beginning. Very frustrating! This went on for several weeks.

One thing I learned was I could not follow the instructions while carrying on a conversation. I had to concentrate to prevent mistakes. But the main thing I learned was I had to follow the instructions WITH UNDERSTANDING. The Rubik’s Cube is a complicated toy and the instructions are also complicated. After I understood the instructions I was able to place all the cubes in their right places.

Problem Solved

Our Christian life is the same. The Bible is our instruction book for how to live on this earth. If we fail to follow its instructions and apply them to our lives we will have to answer for it and receive God's discipline. The accounts in the Old Testament are written for our example. A couple of those examples are about men who messed up because God’s instructions were not followed. And because they did not follow the instructions with understanding they were harshly disciplined.

MOSES:
In the wilderness when the children of Israel were without water, Moses was instructed to go to a rock and strike it and water would flow out. He do so and the people were refreshed with life giving water.

Later they were again without water and this time Moses was instructed to speak to a rock and water would flow out. Moses was angry at the Israelites and struck the rock. Water did come out but Moses was punished by not being allowed to go into the Promised Land because of his mistake. Why would this little mistake bring about such a large punishment?

The rock and water were types of Christ. He is the Rock from whom we receive the life giving waters. Paul writing to the assembly in Corinth wrote: "And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christt." 1 Corinthians 10:4

The first time Moses was to strike the Rock to show that Christ had to be struck for the Living Waters to be released. This was a type of His being put to death. But the second time when Moses struck the Rock he ruined the type God wanted to show to His people. For after Christ was killed, buried and rose again He was not to be put to death again. Jesus died once for the sins of mankind and that sacrifice is sufficient for all sins, past and present. It is unnecessary and wrong to crucify Christ again and again. All we need do is to approach the Rock and ask and the life giving waters will flow. The writer of Hebrews under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote:

For Christ hasn't entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place year by year with blood not his own, or else he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment, so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation. Hebrews 9:24-28

THE UNNAMED PROPHET:
Out second example concerns an unnamed prophet who was ordered to go to Bethel and prophesy against the alter there. God had commanded him to not eat bread or drink water in that place, nor return by the way that he went up to Bethel. The prophet obeyed and did as God commanded. As he was returning home by another way an old prophet in Bethel heard about what had happened. He went after the prophet and persuaded him to return to his house for hospitality. The old prophet told him "I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.'" But he lied to him.

The prophet from Judia returned to Bethel and as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. He cried to the man of God who came from Judah, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, but have come back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, 'Eat no bread, and drink no water'; your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.'"

The prophet from Judia then started back home and a lion killed him on the way. The lion did not eat the man or harm the donkey he was riding. When the old prophet from Bethel heard about his death he went to the place, put the body on the donkey and returned to Bethel. There he buried the prophet from Judia in his own grave and mourned for him. (Read the complete account in 1 Kings chapter 13.)

OUR INSTRUCTION BOOK:
The Bible is our book of instructions for all parts of our life. If we would follow the instructions, God gives us in His Book, we will be successful in all our endeavors. This includes marriage, parenting, sex, business, old age, finances, worship, and all other areas of our life. If we will follow the instructions WITH UNDERSTANDING of God’s purpose for life on earth, we will avoid many mistakes, other people make, and live a life that is worth living. It is sad how many Christians come to the end of their life and have not accomplished much that is worth while and lasting.

Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." Neither let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. Neither let us test the Lord, as some of them tested, and perished by the serpents. Neither grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn't fall. No temptation has taken you but such as man can bear. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1,2

Previous Page - It's Just Not Fair
Next Page - Robbing Satan

Victory in Jesus - Contents Page
A Better Hope - Homepage.

Thank You For Visiting This Page

Revised June 2000. Scriptures changed to The World English Bible.
URL: http://www.abetterhope.com/victory/instructions.html