Learning Curves

 The fastest way to learn roofing is to apprentice with a roofer until you know what goes where and what size nails you should use. The same goes for flooring, plumbing, or any other evergreen careers that seem to have fallen out of favor in lieu of making YouTube content of oneself in a bathtub full of chocolate milk and Cheerios.

When the Cheerios clog your drain, and you’ve got a bathtub full of sour chocolate milk getting a not-so-pleasant shade of green, you’ll still have to call a plumber, and he won’t snake your drain for free.

A trade is the best way to ensure you’ll always be able to afford food and a roof over your head. If I had sons, every time I got the chance, I’d encourage them to go into the trades because the less people gravitate toward them, the higher the price those still in the business can charge. It’s either pay the man what he’s asking or wire your own basement. Chances are it won’t be up to code when you’re done unless you know what you’re doing, and if you don’t know what you’re doing if you’re not smelling like crackling by the end of it, it’s a win.

You are guaranteed a predictable outcome when you follow instructions and have someone you can learn from. Do what God tells you, and if you do what He tells you, you will receive what was promised if you walk in obedience. It doesn’t matter what it is or how improbable it is to human reason; if God promised it, and you did as He commanded, it will come to pass.

I’ve put together my fair share of furniture. Pretty much every piece of furniture in the house, from the bed to the nightstands, to the desk, the chairs, and everything else needing assembly, was done by yours truly. The worst is the Ikea furniture. This is because their instructions make no sense at first glance. They have you start where you naturally wouldn’t, but God help you if you don’t follow the instructions as they are laid out. I learned that tidbit the hard way.

Unsurprisingly, as long as I followed the directions as they were laid out, the bed looked like a bed when I was done, as did the chairs, the desk, and everything else that came in three hundred pieces and a large box. It’s not interpretive dance; you don’t have to get fancy with it. It’s when people throw the instructions out the window that they end up with a triangular bed and a three-legged chair.

If the Word of God tells you what you need to do, how you need to do it, when you need to do it, and why you need to do it, but someone comes along and says you can feel free to throw out the instructions because they have a better way, don’t do it. It will take you longer than it would have had you obeyed the Bible, and when you’re done, what you’ll end up with is nowhere close to what you thought you were getting.

Even great men have fallen into this snare. Even though God had proven himself to David time and again, even though felling Goliath was in his rearview, there came a time when David was so overcome with the thought of Saul killing him that he ran into the arms of the Philistines. He’d stood against a giant and had won, yet fear made him dismiss all that God had done for him, and he chose to flee from before Saul.

1 Samuel 27:1-2, “And David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; And Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand. Then David arose and went over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.”

Where did David go wrong? Short answer, from the start. He said in his heart, and that’s always the precursor to pain and sorrow and heartache. He did not inquire of the Lord or ask the Lord, nor did he wait for instruction from the Lord. He said in his heart that he would someday perish by the hand of Saul, even though God had never told him such a thing.

When you have conversations with yourself rather than God, your flesh will always lead you to a place where you shouldn’t be and insist that you do something you shouldn’t be doing. What’s worse is that at the moment, in the flesh, it makes perfect sense. Someone’s trying to kill me, so I will go where he can’t get to me. It makes sense, doesn’t it? If he can’t get to me, he can’t kill me, and David knew full well that Saul’s reach did not extend to the land of the Philistines.

It did not go well for David. His choice caused him sixteen months of heartache, being mocked and derided by the Philistines, and the nobility once present in him to the point of sparing Saul’s life was nowhere to be found as he descended into butchery of innocents and robbing strangers to survive.

His heart assured him it was a good idea, but its outcome proved otherwise.

Have you inquired of the Lord? Not your heart, not your spouse, not your neighbors, your friends, or your pet beagle, but have you inquired of the Lord. Whatever plan, whatever decision, whatever fork in the road of life, though it may look good to you, though your flesh may insist it is the only way for you to go, take the time and inquire of God. It is the only way you will be surefooted and confident that you are walking in His will. If you are walking in His will, then your destination is assured. If you are not, you will wander through life’s desert, whether a year or forty, only God knows.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.