Recently I was at Walmart. It was not one of my finer moments. It was a bad time to go to Walmart because it was super busy. Normally I go to a Neighborhood Market, but I needed something that only a Wal-Mart Supercenter would have. While I was there I decided to get some groceries, but I don’t know where things are located in the Supercenter very well so it was taking forever. My wife wanted me to get some items for a soup she was going to make and one of the items on the list was 2 cans of petite diced tomatoes. I finally found the tomato section, but I couldn’t find any petite diced tomatoes. A Walmart personal shopper was nearby so I asked her if she saw the tomatoes anywhere. She briefly looked around and said “I think we’re out.” She was clearly much more concerned about filling her order. I continued to look around when I saw some cans on the top shelf where they keep extra items. There they were, three beautiful cases of petite diced tomatoes! The problem was that I couldn’t reach the very top case even on my tippy toes. So I had a little debate going on in my head. “I should probably get somebody to help me. But that will take forever. I think I can do this. No problem.” So I reached up on my tippy toes and started sliding the top two cases out. My plan was to get underneath those 2 cases, balance them, and then bring them down. Really I would be doing the store a service since there weren’t any petite diced tomatoes in their regular place right? Well my plan quickly fell apart. As I slid the cases out, I was not able to balance them like I thought I could and 24 cans of petite diced tomatoes rained down on my head and onto the ground, scattering all over the floor and denting many of the cans. I briefly thought about running away, but I decided to take it like a man and started picking up the cans. The employee who didn’t want to help me earlier was still in the vicinity and came back. I said, “I’m so sorry I should have had someone help me.” She looked at me, and said nothing, but her look said, “Do you think?” To her credit, she did help me pick up the cans. As we picked them up I decided to mention that at least I found the petite diced tomatoes. She was not impressed.
Maybe I can salvage this disaster by adding a spiritual application to it. There are times in our lives when it seems like it is raining tomatoes on our heads. And not just regular tomatoes; rotten smelly tomatoes. Everything seems to be going wrong. Things aren’t going well at work. Finances are tight. Your car breaks down. The furnace breaks. Your kids are struggling. Your marriage is on the rocks. Your health is not good… You fill in the blanks. And it feels like when it rains it pours. It’s not just one thing. Everything seems to be falling apart all at once. Maybe some of you are there right now. And you wonder how much more you can take.
A common phrase that people like to say is “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” I disagree with that statement. I believe there will be times when life is more than we can handle well on our own. However, God can and will give us the strength to handle whatever comes our way if we let him. I love Isaiah 40. You should read the whole chapter, but verses 28-31 say, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Good stuff isn’t it?!
Here’s the thing. God never wears out and he understands what we are going through. He wants us to throw our burdens on His shoulders. He will take them from us. He has really big and strong shoulders. He wants to walk with us and strengthen us when those rotten tomatoes are raining down on our heads. We’ll take some lumps and bumps along the way, but God has a way of using those lumps in positive ways if we let him – even if we have played a role in some of those tomatoes being rained down on our own heads like I often have. I am very thankful for a God of extreme grace and mercy.
I wish this would be the last dumb thing I ever do, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be.
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