Of recipes and cake.

I make perfect chocolate cake, even if I do say so myself. But the fact is I do. It's because the recipe I have, the formula, is perfect.

When someone asks me for the recipe, I give it to them, only too happy to help them make perfect chocolate cake for themselves. But my strict instructions are: follow the recipe to the T. DO NOT add your own inputs. However, people invariably do. And this results in not-so-perfect cake. Why? Because they didn't trust me enough to do exactly what I said. Regardless of the fact that I gave them the recipe and that I make perfect cake. And that I've done this a million times before and I know what I'm doing.

Similarly if we want God to work perfectly in our lives, we have to obey Him. To follow His formula to the T. Not swerve to the left or to the right. Not add our own inputs.

Therefore the Bible says:

"The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom". -Deut 28:13

Unfortunately, when God asks us to do only what He asks us to, we misunderstand Him to be a tyrannical, stifling God. It's only in retrospect that we understand that His explicit instructions benefit no one but ourselves. It's only in retrospect that we realize that swerving away from His advice wasted our own time, energy and resources. And that His path is the best path simply because He knows! He's the expert. It's His formula, His recipe. He's done this a million times before and He knows what He's doing.

When someone takes a tried and tested recipe from you and tweaks it according to their own wisdom, only to end up with a not-so-perfect dish, wouldn't it upset you? Especially if that person is a novice? And you are the expert regarding that dish? Don't you wonder why that person didn't just LISTEN to you? Especially when there was a guarantee of a perfect outcome?

May be that's why God says:

"See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it." - Deut 12:32

If I don't, I have only myself to blame if I end up with not-so-perfect chocolate cake.