May 16, 2026 Devo

One of my favorite stories to tell on myself is when my wife bought a bookshelf years ago and asked me to put it together. I’ll confess from the get-go that I am NOT a handyman. Tools and I have an understanding. I leave them alone, and they leave me alone. But this was just a bookcase. It’s just a hammer and a screwdriver. No big deal. I slid all the boards and parts out of the box, along with the instructions. Being a “man,” I tossed the instructions aside. “Who needs detailed instructions to put a bookcase together?” I thought to myself. As the event would prove, I did.
I laid the boards out and began to screw the shelves in. It seemed to come together easily, and I was pretty impressed with myself when I was done. I stood it up and called Wanda in to look at it. I realized, standing there, that I had made a mistake. I had put the two middle shelves in upside down. I took the bookcase apart, flipped the shelves, and called Wanda in to have a second look. “Something doesn’t look right,” she said. We then saw that I had the top part where the bottom belonged and the bottom part where the top belonged.
Once again, I took the entire bookcase apart, got the top and bottom on correctly, and stepped back to look at it by myself. It looked good. So I nailed on the back, stood it against the wall, and called Wanda in one last time so she could tell me how well I did. She put her arm around me and said, “Nice job, Honey!” I beamed. Then she said, “Oh.” She wasn’t going to say anything, but when I forced her to tell me what was wrong, she said, “You nailed the back on with the wrong side showing. The woodgrain faces the front, and the plain wood faces the wall.” I had to undo what I’d done. One. More. Time.
Life’s easier when we follow the instructions. It’s true in pretty much every aspect of life. It’s especially true when it comes to God. God sadly reminds His People in our passage today what they could have had if they only listened. They could have lived in the Promised Land in peace and been filled with the joy and satisfaction that only His Righteousness can bring. Instead, they did things their way. Though God didn’t abandon them, it certainly took them on a path they wished they would have never had to take. Including a 70-year exile to a foreign country.
God loves us so much that He gave us the Bible. Also known as “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.” We do ourselves a favor to read those instructions. We do ourselves an even bigger favor when we FOLLOW them! If God is speaking to you through His Word or touching your heart with His Spirit, I’d encourage you to listen and obey. Not because God will forsake you or abandon you or even stop loving you. He won’t. But you WILL make life harder for yourself by doing things your way. Take it from a guy who has learned the hard way. Life is better when we follow the instructions. That’s God’s Word for you today.