Empty Shelves!

So, what has your grocery shopping experience been like recently in the midst of this pandemic? If you’ve been to the supermarket in the past couple of months, you know things are quite different than they once were. For one, we are all now wearing masks. Secondly, we have to make sure our shopping cart or basket has been wiped down. Some stores have lines outside limiting the number of people who can be in the store at any one time. And, some have taped arrows at the beginning of the aisles, directing you as to which way you are to travel as you move through the store, as well as taped lines six feet apart showing you where to wait as you go to check out. And then, there are the empty shelves.

I’m still not sure why there has been a run on toilet paper, paper towels, and napkins, but those shelves are consistently empty. Then there have been those times when there have been no cans of tuna or no pasta or no eggs. Now we are learning that there is a shortage of meats, especially poultry. And, last week there were no large tubs of Greek yogurt. I had no idea that a pandemic could cause a run on Greek yogurt! It seems like there is almost no rhyme or reason to what we can find or cannot find in the supermarket these days. All I know is, we consistently see empty shelves.

I don’t know about you but walking into a supermarket and seeing empty shelves is a bit jarring to me. After all, we’re not used to seeing that here in the U.S. We’re used to having whatever we need accessible to us, just about whenever we need it—and with lots and lots of options. To walk into a store and not be able to choose between five kinds of toilet paper or about a dozen different kinds of eggs, or to see the shelves completely empty of pasta or yogurt, can create a bit of anxiety. It sure takes away any sense of control and self-sufficiency.

Maybe it’s actually a good reminder to us all of who our real Provider is. In the end, the supermarket is not our Provider. Nor, is the manufacturer or the distributer. Nor, is our employer. Nor, are we our own providers. Rather, we have a heavenly Father who has promised to take care of us, his children. Thus, we ought not be anxious or overwhelmed when we see the empty shelves.

Jesus put it this way, “…I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on…Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”  He goes on to say, “Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’…your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”  (Matthew 6:25-26, 31-32 – NIV)

So, maybe the next time you go into a supermarket and see some empty shelves, take a moment to pause and thank God for the way he has provided for you in the past.  And remember that he has promised to be your Provider today, tomorrow, and in the days to come.

Have a great day!

Pastor Tim Harris