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Guidebook For The Ages

March 23, 2022

Deuteronomy 4:1–2,5–9 | Matthew 5:17–19 | Psalm 78:1–6

Recently I experienced many frustrations trying to locate sources that would help me solve some of my household problems in determining if the things I owned and used were covered by warranties or at least instructions that would guide me. You know what I am talking about – that new coffee maker that only came with online instructions, that pesky cable connection that interfered with viewing a favorite television show but could only be corrected by calling your cable company, those new car manuals that were supposed to help you trouble shoot but somehow your car model is the exception to the written instructions and not included in the manual. Where have all the guidebooks gone? Where can we turn for answers?

It was then that I read my assigned lesson for the Wednesday in the third week of Lent. I read in Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 5-9, that Moses implores Israel to pay attention the statues he is teaching so that people can be ready to enter and live in the land that the Lord has given them and that they should instruct their children so laws can be passed on to their children and their children’s children. In Mathew 5:17-19 Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets: I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Then Jesus states: “Therefore whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Hmm. An epiphany! In a week of chasing down instruction guidebooks to fix my things, I am struck by the fact that Moses and Jesus gave us the Ultimate Manual, a guidebook that will not go out of print, will not need an online connection to fix our problems, and will be accessible to us each and every time we need it. The Bible.  

Pat Young