"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding" Proverbs 3:5
In Proverbs 3:5-6 we are told to trust the Lord. He knows what’s best even when we’re not sure. In Hebrews 13:17 Lord says to obey our leaders. That’s not a suggestion. Trust what He says and do what we’re told as if our life depends on it.
I once knew a fella who was in the Air Force. He was telling us about all the seemingly silly rules. There were rules about how he made his bed and shined his shoes. For inspection he had to have each drawer of his dresser open just so far and so on. All these seemingly silly and arbitrary rules controlled his day. I asked him if he or anyone ever thought these rules were silly or if they objected to them. He said some people did but the rules have a purpose, learning to trust and obey could save your life.
As a jet pilot instructor he saw several others who flew their plane at 600 miles an hour into the side of a mountain because they weren’t following procedures. They may have been lost, disoriented, distracted or confused for a second, lost focus or thought they knew better. That was all it took.
The Bible seems to be full of rules, guidance and expectations. So often we tend to think that they were for then, but times are different now. Or we think them to be silly or too restrictive. Because we don’t understand them or their purpose, we think we can put them in the “ok but not for me pile”.
I think this fella had the right attitude. All the rules expectations, etc. in and of themselves may have seemed odd, but there was a much greater purpose or lesson that could be the difference between life and death. We seem to have a tendency to get disoriented, distracted or lose focus. Without God's laws or guidance to keep us on the right path we’d surely crash and burn.