“Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the Lord, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin.” Isaiah 30:1

My son introduced me to the Sous Vide method of cooking. Showing up at his house, he had a pot of water, a gadget hanging from the edge and several steaks submerged in plastic bags. I thought, “what foul thing is THIS,” and guessed he had gone over the edge by wasting good meat! That is until he presented the steaks and I ate! Guessin’ immediately flew out the window!

Impressed, I decided to get one for my house. Last weekend, I went to the store to buy some cheap meat. The butcher told me that what I had selected was NOT ‘Choice’ beef and recommended a better cut. I told him that for YEARS I had destroyed good meat by my cooking methods. This time, I wanted to see if I could turn low quality meat into something good! He laughed!

Asking the butcher some questions, based upon his expertise, educated me about the quality of meats. After he gave me his expertise, I began to think, using his knowledge, my experience, and then added some guessing. Having learned that ‘he who expects nothin’, ain’t gonna be deceived,’ I developed high hopes, buffered with low expectations. Guessin’ and thinkin’ were about to fight!

Belief based upon thinking about known facts, to me, is better than belief based upon guessing. The difficulty is to determine what is factual! To get there requires a little of both thinkin’ AND guessin!’ But in the end, the final decision will prove itself to be true or false based upon the outcome. God has a point of view that I have learned to trust. His advice? “Look to HIM FIRST!’

The Word of God has been laid down, tested and proven for over 3500 years. I have NEVER found it to be wrong, inconclusive or to lead me astray. That said, when I have a problem, issue or difficulty, I go to ‘The Word’ FIRST before I do any sort of thinking or guessing. Because, like with my Sous Vide machine, I like seeing something good come out of a low grade quality of life. So does God!

Are YOU trusting God and thinking about HIS ways? Or are you just going around guessin’?