What’s in the Store cupboard? Ice-cream, cake, easy microwave meals quickly bought, quickly gone, or are the staples there: meat or pulses, veg and fruit, milk and cheese, flour and pasta, rice: things that can be drawn upon to make a solid meal?
Lockdown has taught me at least one thing, the margin between strength and fragility is really quite thin. For most of the time I think and react purposefully and positively, but then something happens and the shell crumbles without warning. I’m in my late sixties, shouldn’t I be composed, calm, coping better with stuff that comes my way?
Seems to me that the older I get, the more challenging life becomes. So – what can be done to, a) reduce the number of times the shell is in bits, and perhaps more importantly b) how can the experience of broken shells be turned to good?
It all hinges upon what is in the cupboard. Not the kitchen cupboard, but the one we carry around with us at all times; the one that will provide what it takes to cope with life when it goes pear-shaped.
My reactions, I know, stem not from what is outside, but from what is inside. Outside is the pressure, often beyond my control. Inside, waiting to break out is the response, and like it or not, that is within my control. What is in the store cupboard is what will come out in my response. The Bible tells it as it is.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus declares, “the good man [and woman] brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man [woman] brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Fact – it is only what is in the store cupboard that can be taken out.
This begs two questions – what’s in the store cupboard, and how did it get there? The answer to these two questions is initially the same. What is in there, is what I have put there. What I have put there are the responses to previous experiences and learning. When I face a new challenge, a new difficult situation, can I look back to similar situations of stress, disappointment, restriction, that have produced feelings of guilt, anger, fear and frustration? What helped me to cope then, and what can be taken out of the store cupboard to help me cope in the current crisis? What was God trying to teach me then? What is He trying to teach me now?
Every store needs the staples. The first and basic heart staple is salvation. When I give my life over to Christ, acknowledge that He died on the cross for my wrongdoing, and rose again to give me life, He will then come and live within me. By His Holy Spirit, He takes over my life, He guides me in the best way, He warns of impending danger.
How does He do this? One of the ways is by giving me the essential items that I need in the store cupboard to bring strength when needed – portions of God’s Word that have touched my heart or challenged or encouraged me in some way; the memory of a helpful sermon. Am I regularly filling up the cupboard with the fresh provision of daily Bible reading? Am I reading books or articles that will feed my soul? Am I regularly listening to God’s Word being preached by His faithful servants? Do I have a spirit of grateful worship in my heart? If not, then there will be nothing substantial to take out when I need it.
King David when he was still a young unknown shepherd boy came with five small stones and a sling against the giant Goliath who was arrayed in full armour. It was certainly not a contest of equals. Goliath thought he was a winner. What he did not realise was that David came against him in the Name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel. No, it was no contest of equals, Goliath didn’t stand a chance.
Similarly, the strength and supply of the Living God Almighty is with me, giving good gifts to put in my personal store cupboard. When difficulties come, then the indwelling Spirit of God will bring a verse of Scripture to mind. Through His prompting, perhaps through a friend, I will find helpful books, perhaps do a spot of journaling that will help to clear my mind and lead to worship. A walk in a pleasant place can remind me of the goodness of God and be a means of dispelling the unrest of the soul and bringing about the calm and acceptance that comes when we trust in Him.
Such a store cupboard is not filled easily. The Apostle James says, “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:4). Perseverance means sticking at it in the face of hardship. Results are not easily come by, but having secured them, they will be a staple resource within the cupboard to be drawn from, added to, and adapted for use whenever the need arises.
So keep filling the cupboard, and in times of trial it will be the good things that will break out to be shared with others for His glory.
