My husband makes fun of me for how much I despise going to the grocery store.
Out of all of the errands that we have to do each day and week, for some reason, everything in me cannot stand carving out a chunk of time to head to the nearest Ralph’s.
I can bathe our dog, clean the bathroom, and tediously scrape tiny dots of paint off of our tile floors, but when it comes to the grocery store, an internal siren goes off.
What’s odd to me is that out of all of the errands I listed above, the grocery store is by far the most necessary. I avoid the one task that my survival depends on.
Similarly, when it comes to my faith, I tend to want to run in the opposite direction of hardship and weakness … the very things that the Lord uses to humble, strengthen, and grow me in order to be more like Him.
In a recent broadcast of A Call to the Nation, Pastor Carter said it well:
Humankind typically despises weakness. We have a tendency throughout history to shun the simplicity of faith and gravitate to something more visual, more hands-on, and more self-satisfying. Do we live our whole life trying to get out of the very things that God has sent to make us strong?
All over Scripture, we’re deliberately told that it’s in our weakness where God’s strength is made known, that with less of us there is more room for Him and His rule, that suffering produces endurance, character, and hope.
Yet, when it comes down to it, we don’t naturally rejoice in our pain—in fact, we do just the opposite … we squirm uncomfortably and try to find a shortcut to the finish line of our trial before His full work is complete.
I’m thankful that, in Pastor Carter’s 1:00 daily and 24:55 weekly programs, he always points me back to where true life is found … in the pruning and shaping of our Father’s loving hands. And this starts with humility and prayer.
So whether it be the grocery store or your deepest heartache, may we step out of the way and allow the Lord to do His work and be our strength. The mountain top has a nice view, but it’s in the valley where sustenance and life are found.
