Hackathon

A friend of mine had about a month to prepare for a hackathon. Day and night, he kept spending so much time building and building. A few minutes before the submission deadline, he realized he had been building on the wrong platform, so he could not submit it, and he could not start building again because he only had a few minutes left. It was such a sad experience because he had invested so much time and energy in building it, but he could not submit it just because he did not read the instructions before starting.

Do you know where I am going with this story yet? 🤷🏽‍♀️

I recently got an office chair for my room, and it came with a manual and a lot of tools like two wrenches and other stuff. I had never put together an office chair before, so I felt overwhelmed at first, but I took my time and read the instructions before I started putting it together. Safe to say that I took less time putting the office chair together, and I was so proud of myself. #diygirly 😂

Do you see where I am going yet? 🫣

And then there’s another friend of mine who would prefer assembling things and only read the manual when necessary. I remember putting up a bed frame with this friend, and we kept having to unscrew and re-screw numerous times just to get it right, and we did end up spending so much time assembling the bed frame. If only we had read the manual before starting instead of just assuming we could figure it out without it.

If you don’t know where I am headed yet, let me tell you 😊

Always read the instructions; stick to the manual.

Don't be like my friends who prefer to wing it. Don't be like my other friend who spent a month building something only to discover that he had been building on the wrong platform. He was so focused on the deadline that he lost sight of the instructions. Don’t live this life without the manual.

Our lives have a manual, and it is God’s Word. But, a lot of times, we approach life the same way we approach furniture assembly. We start building, we make decisions, we enter relationships, we choose careers, we make financial decisions, we decide what success looks like, we determine what we believe, we make plans for our future, etc. But when something goes wrong, we say, “Okay, let me check what the manual says.”

But what if His Word should have been the first thing we opened? As Christians, we are not expected to figure out life by ourselves. God has not left us without direction. He has given us His Word. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”. Let His voice and His Word guide you through everything you are building in this life.

I know, like me, you might be thinking, “Can’t God just give us the entire road map of our lives?” Remember that a lamp may not show you the entire road at once, but it gives you enough light to know where to put your next step. And that is what God’s Word does. We want God to give us the entire blueprint for our lives. We want to know what will happen five years from now, who we will marry, where we will live, what job we will have, how everything will work out. Remember that He has given us His word to guide our next step.

An intriguing but dangerous aspect of this is that sometimes, winging it actually works, and it works fine. You put together the chair without reading the manual, and somehow it stands. You assemble the bed frame, and eventually you get it right. You decide without seeking God, and everything seems fine. Maybe you currently live your life without His manual, and you are like “Maybe I don’t really need the manual.”

What happens when you realize you really do need His manual? What happens when you make a decision you cannot easily undo, realize you have been building on the wrong foundation, or look back and discover that you spent years pursuing something God never asked you to build? Wouldn’t our lives just be easier with His manual? Proverbs 14:12 says: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Please, know that something can feel right and still be wrong. Something can look good and still not be God’s will. Something can even be successful and still not be what God asked you to build. That’s why we need the manual. Please, stick to His manual.

Imagine buying a piece of furniture and refusing to read the manual until you have already broken three pieces. Why wait until something is falling apart before consulting the One who gave us the instructions? We don’t read Scripture only because we are in trouble. Of course, God’s Word is absolutely there for us in those moments (Moments when we don’t know what to do, we need direction, or encouragement, or we are struggling with life and relationships), but we should read it because we are building.

Every day of our lives we are building something. We are building our character, relationships, our faith, our families, careers, futures, and so on. And eventually, what we build will be tested. Jesus said in Matthew 7 that the wise person is the one who hears His words and puts them into practice. The difference between the wise and foolish builders was not that one had access to instructions and the other didn’t. The difference was what they did with the instructions.

My friend’s hackathon experience reminded me that effort alone is not enough. He wasn't lacking effort; he was lacking direction. He wasn't lazy or careless with his time. In fact, he worked incredibly hard. His problem was that his effort was disconnected from the instructions. And sometimes, that is us. We are working hard, praying for God to bless what we are building, but we haven't stopped to ask whether we are building what He told us to build. Sometimes we're not failing because we're not working hard enough; we're failing because we're working hard on the wrong thing.

So here is my plea to you - Before you make that decision, read the manual. Before you enter that relationship, read the manual. Before you chase that opportunity, read the manual. Before you decide what success means for your life, read the manual. Before you start building, ask God what He wants you to build.

And when the instructions don’t make sense? Follow them anyway. Because the manufacturer knows the product better than the person assembling it. And our Creator knows us better than we know ourselves. So, my friends, don’t just build, but build according to the manual.

Don’t rush because you see a deadline. Don’t compare your building process with someone else’s. Don’t assume you can figure everything out on your own. And don’t wait until everything falls apart before you open the manual.

Read the Word. Follow the instructions. Trust the One who wrote them. Because you only get one life to build. Don’t build it without the Manual. ❤️

#Hephzibahsdiary

#lightbearer