When we purchase an appliance, a toy or a new gadget, the most human thing we do is rip the box open, pull out them and use it. That’s fine if we know how to use it from the get-go. But sometimes, while in use, we break it. Then we ask, “What happened?”

We forget that the product came with an instruction manual. This carefully crafted and well though publication contains vital information in the use, care and conditioning of the item that came with it. It’s pages contain the list of the different parts that comes with the product and how to assemble it, the important details you need to remember, the proper way of use, and even how to troubleshoot it just in case it does not work. Nowadays, they even come in different translations. The author already had these in mind so that whoever took home that television (for example) will know how to operate it.

But who actually takes the time reading a manual, right?

In a 2007 survey conducted by Accenture, an astonishing 95 percent of consumers return the products they bought because it does not work. Or so they say. Actually, only 5 percent were really broken. The rest were in good working condition. The problem is that people did not bother to read the manual. If they did, then they would have used the product without any problems.

Provers 4:13 says “Carry out my instructions; don’t forsake them. Guard them, for they will lead you to a fulfilled life.” (NLT) A loosely paraphrased version is “READ THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY.” God is telling you today to read his Word and see how its instructions matter to your life. Don’t just skip pages. But take the time and read it for all its worth. It will save your life.

Our life is complicated as it is. We need the manual and it is the Word for God.