Read: Psalm 37:1-40

There are pictures floating around the Internet of “unsupervised men” (Google it). They show creative solutions to problems men find when unencumbered by common sense or a good woman. My favorite is the guy trimming hedges with a riding mower—suspended from a friend’s crane!

The common thread through these pictures is men using equipment in ways the manufacturer never intended. We all immediately recognize the stupidity of the application. Unfortunately, we don’t have the same perspective when we do the same thing with our lives. We look at God’s laws as restrictive: I can’t sleep with my girlfriend, I can’t cheat on my wife or my taxes, I can’t party like my other friends.

David realizes in Psalm 37:5 that when we commit our way to the Lord, God works on our behalf. God really loves us, and His law is an expression of that love. Every regret I have is a result of deliberately losing sight of this fact.

We have no problem changing the oil in our cars, winterizing the boat, dry cleaning that one garment, oiling the gun. Each time we do one of these tasks, in some small way we have “committed our way” to the manufacturer. God is our manufacturer, and when we use our body and soul according to the manufacturer’s instructions, things go better. Let’s admit we don’t know better than our manufacturer. The only way for us to be truly free is to commit to God’s way by following his directions.