The Lord's Provision and Worship

I hate to shop.  During my homeschooling years, my middle son and I would go on a grocery shopping trip every three weeks.  We each had a list, we'd get two carts, and we'd go off in opposite directions, zooming through the store and filling our carts.  About 10 minutes later, we'd meet up and check out.  On the drive home, we'd always share a cherry coke or iced coffee. 

These days I'm shopping once a week, I'm alone, and I'm wearing a face mask.  And because of "social distancing" I can't even zoom through the store.  Fortunately my grocery store hasn't been crowded, and I've always found the items I needed...until yesterday.

Yesterday, the meat section was practically empty.  No chicken and no beef except for ground beef.  

Now we are in no ways starving or lacking for food.  But when I see empty meat shelves, I start to think, "What if this continues?  What will I fix?"  

It reminds me of how the Israelites, God's people, felt when they were in the wilderness, concerned that they weren't going to be fed.  The Israelites knew the Lord provided for them, they'd seen His provision, yet they still doubted.

Most of us, in this land of plenty, have never faced a food shortage.  I recall gas shortages and lines in the '70s, but that's about it.

And I can't help comparing this possible lack of food and daily supplies to my inability to attend Sunday worship.

My weekly "Ten Commandments - Prayer and Confession" devotion says this:

Help me to worship knowing that all is a gift from You.

Being able to attend weekly worship services, to hear God's Word, to hear His forgiveness of sins, to "take and eat" the Lord's Supper, to be encouraged by fellow Christians, to pray together - it's all a gift from the Lord.

Like the empty meat shelves, I'm deprived of seeing this site on Sunday mornings and of participating in worship at my church, of receiving God's gifts.

This week, I noted this prayer from Psalm 60 in the Lutheran Study Bible. 

When we face defeat, O Lord, keep our eyes on Your promises.  When we experience loss, keep our hearts filled with Your peace.  When we don't understand Your plan for us, keep the cross of Christ always before us - the depth and breath and height of Your love for us.  Amen.

 And as I pray, Psalm 43 comes to mind:

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
        and why are you in turmoil within me?
    Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
        my salvation and my God.  Psalm 43:5