don’t know why, but as risk free as I like to be in life, when it comes to following recipes that security loving part of my brain just doesn’t seem to kick in as much.
I tend to view recipes more as a general guide concerning the appropriate liquid and solid ratio and the sort of flavors to go for instead of as an absolute rule-which doesn’t always turn out badly.
My attempt at a Jewish recipe for chicken, which at the end of the day didn’t actually include chicken (and many other things), still turned out great for Shabbat. On the other hand, there were times when a lenient attitude toward following directions didn’t turn out that well. Like when my little brother lost a tooth on my brownies. Along that same line was my first attempt at falafels.
As I recall this particular recipe called for bread crumbs. I don’t think I had any bread crumbs around so I figured, why not substitute oats? After all, at the end of the day both bread and oats come from the ground right? Wheat grows from the ground and so do oats so that should workout right? As you could probably guess that plan didn’t turn out so well, especially since that probably wasn’t the only time I used that sort of reasoning for substitution in the recipe.
Long after those horrendous balls of woe unworthy to be called falafels emerged from the oven that attempt at falafels were used as an example as to why I should follow the recipe. When I was thinking of cooking something else, I was told I should really follow the recipe and reminded of those “oatmeal cookies” as proof, to which I replied those were falafels. This of course pretty much proved the speaker’s point- I should really follow the recipe. What I attempted to make on my wisdom wasn’t even recognized when I deviated from the instructions.
This reminded me of the verse in Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” Trying to finish those “falafels” might not have resulted in death, although I wasn’t too willing to find out, but there is a principle one can learned. Our own logic may not always as sound as we may think it is, sometimes we shouldn’t just follow our feelings. We should always pray first and, yes even with cooking we can ask God for wisdom. God cares about even the little stuff.
“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways…. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.” Psalm 139: 1-3 & 17-18 We can always seek God’s advice without doubting His concern for us in any area of life. God's way is best, so let's follow the Bible-God's recipe for life without trying to substitute His ways for our own.
Picture originally found here
