If Only There Were Instructions

 If we spend thousands of dollars on an appliance we would be pretty foolish not to read through the instructions on how to use it properly. We would be even more foolish if we read the instructions and then decide to use it however we felt like it. And we would probably be the first person to be calling the manufacturer when the appliance broke from our misuse.  King Solomon was like this.

Solomon had prayed for discernment and Yahweh was pleased that he had. So he gave him a discerning mind which led to wisdom, and then he gave him riches, fame and peace as well. But the covenant also required that Solomon would follow all of Yahweh’s instructions and worship him all his days.

Part of these instructions was not to take many wives and not to take foreign wives who would turn their husband’s away from Yahweh. There were also instructions not to go back to Egypt, not to become too wealthy and not to possess too many horses. Yet the first thing Solomon did was make an alliance with Egypt by marrying Pharaoh's daughter. He also entered into a horse trade which built up his personal wealth. Obviously the big problem was the many many foreign women he married who turned his heart away from Yahweh. If only someone had warned him. Oh, wait! Someone had.

That’s the problem most of us have. We have been given instruction on how to do relationship in the way that pleases Father’s heart. It is clear and it is doable. When we follow these instructions blessings flow. But we ignore the instructions and end up with broken relationships, and we act surprised, as if we had no access to the Bible and Spirit.

No one is saying that relationships are easy because they aren’t. They involve imperfect people but the instructions already take this into account, dealing with apologies and forgiveness. The Bible puts relationship in the center and everything else revolves around this; our relationship with Yahweh and our relationship with each other. There is nothing saying it doesn’t get messy, only that such value is placed on them that we have been told to do what we can to keep peace in these relationships.

When we don’t follow the instructions things get broken. Thankfully Spirit is the greatest repairman in all of eternity.