How many times have you found yourself in this particular quandary? You’ve purchased gifts for your children or someone you love. Now it’s your responsibility, as the loving individual, to assemble the gift. You open the box, carefully laying out the parts. You say to yourself, “This should be easy.” Some pieces fall into place easily, while others seem to need some extra coaxing. A bolt here, a washer, bolt or screw here. It all seems to make sense. Finally, you are finished!

Oops, not so quick. What are those extra nuts, bolts and that extra piece? You didn’t see where those should have gone. Upon the realization that the gift wouldn’t work as it was intended without those parts, you finally decide to pull out the directions and follow them. How often we find ourselves doing just that with our lives here on earth, a to a much larger degree, our existence after this life as we know it has passed?

We attempt to live our lives according to our own set of rules or our own interpretation. Our propensity is to lean toward that which is most convenient, most comfortable or most pleasurable without regard to the final outcome. The world’s philosophy becomes our barometer for what is right or wrong. We find that it’s our ever-changing culture that dictates our actions rather than the never-changing word of God. However, as we wander through this life, we find that pieces are missing. Inevitably, life isn’t what it’s meant to be. We feel as though life is not complete.

After years of looking for what was missing, I have finally discovered the missing piece. I have found that I need to “read the instructions” before I continue to attempt to build life’s puzzle. It is essential to not merely browse the directions periodically but follow them at all times. Only then will you be assured to complete life’s puzzle successfully. Do you want success? Do you want peace and joy in your life the way that God desires for you? Try applying these words from the Bible:

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  –Proverbs 3:5-6

As you submit to this Godly wisdom, you too will find comfort in knowing that you’re following heavenly instructions meant to complete you and bring true joy to your life.

More than once I have been completely lost and pulled over to ask for directions. Once when I was especially lost on my way to an event, I pulled over for the second time to ask for directions. Due to the stress of being lost and late, my first attempt to ask for directions had led me down a dead end. Imagine my relief at finding a police officer on his lunch break inside the fast food restaurant! With his directions, I was at my destination within 10 minutes. My crowning achievement was navigating through the tunnels and one way streets of Boston several weeks ago. Though we made a couple wrong turns along the way, we found our destination on time. What a thrill!

Life seems to mimic my road trips. I think I have it all figured out, that I know my way to where I want to go, and I’m determined to get there single-handedly. Sometimes I get turned around. Still I try to muscle through it myself, thinking that I can find my own way even after my directions have proven inaccurate. Sometimes I ask for help from a faulty source of information and end up farther from my goal. But God has something better in mind for me. I don’t have to wander the road of life lost and confused. There are divine directions, more reliable than my trusty Internet map sites can hope to be.

You don’t have to look far to find the spiritual equivalent of a police man, with directions and advice you know you can trust.  A few times I got to use a friend’s GPS device. How easy! I don’t need to figure anything out or call for help, I just need to listen. It tells me when to turn, even what lane of the highway I should be in to make that turn. And if a happen to miss my exit? That reassuring voice comes back on, saying “Recalculating route.” Isn’t that wonderful? Even if I mess up, it redirects me back to the right path. That is what God wants to do. If I listen, there is the still small voice of God, directing me to my final destination, and to many good things along the way.

Who is God? How is his identity defined? Perhaps we should look at the first name — the only name — He gives Himself: “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14). God called Himself the I Am. The Hebrew word hayah, meaning “to be,” is used here. Later writers derived the name YHWH from this word. The name is probably pronounced “Yahweh,” though most translations show it as “Jehovah,” the translator’s best guess at pronunciation. The name “Jehovah” literally means the God who Is.

But what does it mean for God to be the I Am? Again, we can turn to Him for explanation in John 8:58:  “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” The most important thing to know about God is this: that He exists. After all, if that were not the case, why should we believe in Him?

This concept is repeated many times throughout scripture. Visions of heaven speak of a God who is and was and is to come. Past, future, and present meet at the singular being who controls all three. He simply is; there are no dependencies in the identity of the I Am.

Wonderful Counselor

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor…” –Isaiah 9:6

Some names do not establish identity: rather, they describe the character of what is named. We see this with Richard the Lion-Hearted and Cosmas Indicopleustes, the India-Sailor. It’s not enough to know who someone is; we also want to know what they’re like. Many names of God are descriptive. They let us know what His character and actions are like.

Here and in Isaiah 28:29, the prophet tells us that Jesus — the son given to Israel — is “wonderful in counsel.” James writes that God gives wisdom to all men liberally, and Proverbs tells us that wisdom is more valuable than gold. What a privilege it is, then, for us to have the Wonderful Counselor to turn to!