CONSULTING THE PRODUCT MANUAL

"See, I set before you today life and prosperity,
death and destruction. For I command you today
to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and
to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you
will live and increase, and the Lord your God will
bless you in the land you are entering to possess."
(Deuteronomy 30:15-16)

It both pains and puzzles me to know that there are folks who struggle desperately to lose weight, or to overcome some other stronghold in their life, and who will try anything but a Bible study on the topic because they feel that to do so would be an attempt to manipulate God. Who can know best what steps we need to take to remedy our problems than the God who created us?

God knows what makes our bodies tick, and just as a manufacturer provides consumers with an instruction manual, He too has given us a set of guidelines to follow that cover every possible scenario we may be faced with in this journey through life (Deuteronomy 30:15-20).

Some of these guidelines, for example, relate to how we need to fuel our bodies for optimum energy and good health, and if we follow them, weight would never be an issue. So how then is getting together as a group to study these principles so we can see where we have gone wrong and correct it, an attempt to manipulate God?

Somehow I am reminded of the prisoner anguishing about being locked up in a dark prison cell with no way of escape when all along the door was unlocked and he could simply have walked out anytime he wanted to.