Follow the Recipe

An amateur cook wrote to a chef about his published recipe: “I tried your recipe for chicken and rice.  I didn’t have any chicken, so I used the sardines that I did have.  I didn’t like how your recipe turned out.”  The problem was not the recipe; the problem was that the cook didn’t follow the recipe.  He READ the recipe, but he didn’t FOLLOW the recipe.  Hey, we read the Bible and read what God says about how to live our lives.  But we don’t follow God’s instructions and we are surprised when our lives don’t turn out the way we want them to.  Why does our marriage fall apart?  Read the Book.  Why do our children grow up as hoodlums?  Follow God’s directions.  Why are we always at odds with the boss at work?  Do what God says to do.  Psalm 34:6, “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.”  Ask the dear Lord for help.  Read God’s Book.  Then do what He says.