Grocery Checkout Fiasco

Photo: Ruben A. Navarrete

Since I work part-time, I usually rush home from work to relieve one of my two babysitters. Then I take the older kids out with me to run errands. Today we had one hour to buy groceries for the week before the other babysitter had to leave. I had two of my girls with me, and we rushed through each aisle, selecting every item on my imaginary list. I gave the girls one instruction on the way into the store: "DO NOT ASK ME FOR ANYTHING. Instead, if there is something you like or want, ask me if it is on the grocery list."

We made it through the entire store in good time and without tears or tantrums. And checking out proceeded smoothly, considering the volume of food loaded on the belt. Of course, my 4-year-old was loudly repeating to everyone how much food we had and how we were going to use up all the grocery bags! And at one point, I overheard one of my girls explaining to the cashier where we live. I politely interrupted my sweet daughter and told her to stop telling strangers how to get to her house!

Finally, I handed the cashier my few dollars' worth of diaper coupons and awaited my subtotal. I reached for my debit card to complete the transaction, but it was nowhere to be found! There were many people behind me in line likely already annoyed with my lengthy checkout. But when I realized I had no debit card to pay with, I asked the cashier to put my order on hold. As I kept searching my bag, I saw that I could pay by check! Who does that anymore? But it was my only option. And as I waited for the cashier to finish ringing up everyone else, I even found more coupons for my order. 

Finally, it was my turn again, so I handed her my check. She said: "checks usually get denied here, but let's try it anyway." A few seconds later, she informed me that the check was denied. She gave me the denial code and phone number to call some check verification company. I had no other option, so I called it and the automated system told me that the amount of my purchase appeared that I was fraudulently using a check. I was able to transfer over to customer service and speak with someone about my situation. He kindly verified all my personal information and updated the system. But unfortunately, he could not authorize use of checks at this store because it takes 7 days to process. I explained to him that I had a cart overflowing with groceries for a family of seven, and I had two young children shopping with me; I had no other option but to buy the food immediately. He was sorry for the inconvenience but unable to help me any further! I'm sure he does not know that talking on the phone with young children in the room is nearly impossible, but somehow we finished the conversation with me only asking him to repeat himself about five times.

As I marched over to the store manager with my cart full of unpaid groceries, my 4-year-old was sitting on the floor crying because I was "walking away from her." She had taken her shoes off during this whole ordeal, so she was supposed to put them back on and follow me to see the manager. Both of my daughters were well past the point of being bored and ansy, but somehow, they were quiet enough for me to speak with the manager. "I shop here all the time, but I can't find my debit card, so I am trying to pay with this check, which was denied, and I have to leave here with these groceries--I promise the check won't bounce." She suggested that I call the bank, but I told her I do not have time nor do I have the bank's phone number. Thankfully, she thought of a way to take care of it, which I did not understand. But I agreed thankfully and rushed home with my girls and groceries!

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Stepping Into Your Calling

Photo: Ruben A. Navarrete

If you have been wandering in the desert, following God but not yet having the opportunity to enter your Promised Land, this passage in Deuteronomy is for you! Deuteronomy 9 is about entering your Promised Land--stepping into your calling. First, remember where you have come from. You have been lost in the desert, wandering around for a long time. You may have been going through a trial or test in your life. You may feel like you have been in a deep, dark tunnel for years. You may have been in a valley and felt alone, hopeless, helpless, discouraged, depressed. But in reality, you were never alone! "When the valley is dark, I will not be afraid. For you, my God, are by my side" (Psalm 23:4).

But now it is time to leave the desert and enter the Promised Land! God has something else in store for you, and it may be sooner than you think! Is there a calling that God has placed on your heart, maybe even long ago? Is there a passion to start or join something bigger than you and your own picket fence? Is there something you are drawn to and excited about that you never had the opportunity to do before? It is a place to use your gifts, to serve, to help, to conquer, and to claim victory!

1. Your Calling is great and may seem impossible.
"Hear, O Israel. You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky" (Deut 9:1). God called Israel to enter the Promised Land, which was a land full of giants. It did not make sense in the human mind to enter this land because it was inhabited by large and powerful groups of people who had been established for generations and had large, walled cities. But that is exactly what God called them to! He does not have a small task for you but a great and mighty work that will expand His Kingdom! So do not make excuses or doubt your ability because God has ordained you for this! It is His work that He will do in and through your life, your words, your testimony, your service, your work, your abilities. So at the time God shows you, cross over the Jordan and enter the Land. Do things you never thought you could do and conquer things you think are too hard for you. It will feel like you are fighting giants and beating unbreakable walls, but that is how God works throughout history. God gave David victory over Goliath with a stone and slingshot. God brought down the walls of Jericho simply by His people marching around the city. God gave Gideon victory over thousands with only 300 soldiers.

2. God is calling you to victory over your enemies.
"The people are strong and tall-Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: 'who can stand up against the Anakites?' " (Deut 9:2) I do not know your battles, but the real battles are spiritual and not physical. You may feel your battle is against something or someone in this world, but the true enemy is Satan (not your boss, your family, your peers, your addiction, your past, your insecurities, etc). And as you step into your calling, God is giving you and will continue to give you victory over your past and present struggles, no matter how big they are.

3. God is going ahead of you.
"But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you" (Deut 9:3a). You can have confidence in entering your calling because God is going before you, preparing the way. He will destroy the enemies in your path. Claim that victory over your life and circumstances! Claim that victory over Satan's attacks.

4. God is working quickly!
"He will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD has promised you" (Deut 9:3b). As you step into your calling and obey God in each step, He will give you rapid victory over problems that you may have struggled with for years in the past. He wants to drive out these things quickly and completely! This is what God has promised, and He cannot break His promises! He plans to get rid of them completely and permanently. If you hold onto these things, they will stop your progress and hinder ultimate victory. So follow God's lead because He is working quickly to accomplish His purpose through you RIGHT NOW!

5. God is not giving you victory because of your righteousness.
"After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness...It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land...It is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people" (Deut 9:4, 5, 6). It is in our sinful, egotistical nature to take the credit for the good things we do for the Kingdom of God. God knows that, so He repeated the same phrase three different times in this one paragraph. Obviously, He wants us to guard ourselves against pride when God gives us victory. He is the One who does the fighting and conquering, and He is the One who should get the credit. We can be confident because of Him, not because of ourselves. Don't forget that on our own, we caused ourselves to wander in the desert all these years. We have been stubborn and unfaithful and disobedient. When we have victory, it is not because of ourselves; instead, God gives us victory in spite of ourselves.

6. God is calling you to fight with Him against evil.
"It is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you" (Deut 9:4,5). There is great evil occurring all over the world, and God is hard at work against it. So join with Him in this work. One way that Satan works is through complacency and self-absorption. It is time to get off the couch, off your games, off your spending sprees, off your pity parties, off your phone and get to work for the purposes of God in this world! Spend time thinking about what you have been through in your lifetime. How did God carry you through? Be reminded that others are facing similar struggles and need an advocate, a friend, a mentor, a helper. How does God want you to be a channel of His mercy to them?

7. Guard against idols.
"Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned away quickly from what I commanded them and have made a cast idol for themselves...I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain" (Deut 9:12, 21). God is serious about dealing with idols, and He does not tolerate idolatry in your land of calling. Sometimes idols can be subtle, and Satan will deceive you in this area. The Israelites formed an idol during the forty days that Moses was up on the mountain talking with God and receiving the tablets of the ten commandments. They made an idol for several reasons. First, they did not trust God fully. Second, they wanted something they could see. Third, they were following worldly examples. When dealing with idols of any sort, God commands us to completely destroy them many times over. Moses destroyed the golden calf by melting it, crushing it, grinding it to powder, then putting it into a stream to carry it away.

Whatever your calling is, I encourage you to step into what God has laid on your heart. It may be as small as spending more quality time with your kids. It may be as big as starting a new ministry. It may be as personal as learning how to love. It may be as life-changing as overcoming a chronic bad habit. Whatever it is, God is on your side, working to bring you out of the desert where you have lived for so long. God's will is for you to overcome and to be victorious just as Jesus Christ overcame death by rising from the dead! "The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you" (Rom 8:11 NLT).

Why Do We Face Difficulties?

Photo: Rev. Ruben E. Navarrete

Deuteronomy 8 is packed full of awesome words from God about why we go through difficulties. I have underlined almost every verse in this chapter because they are all so powerful!

Why Do I Face Difficulties?

1. God is teaching me obedience. 

Deut 8:1 says: "Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today." It is His will for me to learn to obey Him. Whether I learn the easy way or the hard way is up to me. Blessings will come as I obey. Life is not easy, but it will be better for us if we learn to obey God. He gives us every command for a good reason. 

2. God has a plan for my deliverance from the difficulty.

Deut 8:1b says: "so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers." The deliverance comes as a direct result of our obedience. If the people of Israel had obeyed God immediately by believing they could enter the Promised Land and taking it as God had instructed, they would have entered it 40 years sooner. But they were afraid and doubted God's ability to give them victory. So in response to their unbelief, they were not allowed to enter the Promised Land; they had to wander in the desert for 40 years. Yet God was faithful to His Promise, so after the 40 years were complete, He led them into the Promised Land.

3. God wants to humble me and test me.

Deut 8:2 says: "Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands." God wants my willing obedience. His desire is for me to obey--not simply because I have to but because I want to. Just like I want my children to obey me without arguing and with a good attitude, that is what God wants from me. My obedience to God demonstrates that I love Him and I trust that His rules are for my good. In difficulties, we may feel tempted to give up or to disobey what God wants, but if we obey when it is hard, we will pass the test. 

4. God wants to teach me to rely on Him and nothing (no one) else.

Deut 8:3 says: "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." During the difficulty, what have I hungered for? If I felt like every desire was fulfilled, then I would not be hungry for anything. God clearly wants to make me hunger so that He can satisfy it. God is the only one that can truly satisfy all that I need in this life. This means whatever I am lacking, He can and will fulfill (The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. In other words, I shall lack nothing. -Psalm 23). This includes material needs, physical needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs.

5. God wants to show His supernatural power to sustain me.

Deut 8:4 says: "Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years." When our circumstances seem impossible, that is when God works. It may be impossible for me, but nothing is impossible with God. He can make clothes last for forty years, which shows supernatural provision. He can prevent feet from swelling, which shows supernatural healing. Think of all the miracles that Jesus did that were impossible in human terms but that He did to provide for and sustain His followers. He turned one plate of food into enough to feed over five thousand people. Remember that if He provides for the sparrows and lilies of the field, how much more will He provide for us. Are we not worth more than birds and flowers (Matthew 6:28)?

6. God is disciplining me as His child.

Deut 8:5 says: "know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD our God disciplines you." I discipline my children because I love them. I want to teach them right from wrong. I want them to grow up to be good and productive members of society. I want them to have good values to pass on to their children. I want them to know Jesus and to show His love to the world. I want their lives to be blessed by God through their own obedience. Think of all the reasons your discipline your children and what you are trying to teach them. These are the same reasons that God disciplines us. He is my loving Father. He knows what is best for me, so He will discipline me until I learn to love Him, to trust Him, to obey Him, to seek Him, and to be like Him.

7. God wants my life to honor Him.

Deut 8:6 says: "observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him." It brings God great joy to have His children walking in obedience to Him, in respect for Him, in honor for Him. That is the best way to increase God's Kingdom. My life is not simply about me. Everything I do affects many other people. If I am godly, then those around me will learn to be godly. The Kingdom of God expands when we honor Him. It honors God when we trust Him during difficulties. If we do not trust Him and instead show anger and bitterness, it demonstrates to the world that we do not believe God is good and trustworthy and powerful. Even our attitudes are a testimony about God to the world, so they can be a testimony that will draw others closer to God or a bad testimony that will push people away from God. We have a huge capacity to influence the world for or against God based on our attitudes during difficult times.

8. God has greater things in store for me.

Deut 8:7-9 says: "for the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land--a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey, a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills." We will appreciate all these wonderful things more in contrast to not having them before. If we always have prosperity, we will take it for granted. Read these verses, and believe that God is speaking them directly to you. I don't know where you are coming from, but if you are like me, you have been in a difficult place. You have experienced wandering in the desert for weeks or months or years. You have walked in the depths of a dark valley where you feel alone and helpless. You have lived through times where you could not even hear God's voice. But know that your mountain awaits, and it will far surpass what you even hoped and prayed for. Everything that you have lacked and missed and cried for and longed for will be fulfilled in a way that is far better than you could hope for because the God of the Universe loves you and wants the best for you! Not only does God have wonderful blessings in store for our future, He has a perfect home in heaven waiting for us, so that is our ultimate hope. No blessings in this life compare to how wonderful it will be in heaven. God wants us to understand that nothing on this earth will fully satisfy us because our eternal home is in heaven with Him. 

9. God wants me to praise Him.

Deut 8:10 says: "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you." God will be praised, and it is our job to do so. Praising the Lord brings Him great honor and glory and also helps us to have a heart full of joy and thanksgiving. When God has brought you through the trial and you have reached your promised land, you will be able to praise Him so much more because you will have experienced His power, love, and faithfulness firsthand.

10. God wants me to not forget Him.

Deut 8:11-15 says: "Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." God blesses us in so many ways, but we need to guard against forgetting Him. The more we have, we can easily become proud and give ourselves all the credit for our blessings. Everything we have is a gift from God, so we need to recognize it is God's and not ours. Once you have passed through the desert, do not forget how God brought you through it and all that God has done for you in the past. He not only brought you out of the desert, but prior to that, He brought you out of slavery. He has delivered you many times, and this testimony will encourage you in future trials and can help others that you share your story with.

11. God wants me to tell others about how He helped me through the trial.

Deut 8:15-16 says: "He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known." During the trial, God did many good things for you, even though at the time you may not have been able to see it. But take the time to think about what God has done for you even through the desert. God will give you opportunities to tell others about how He brought you through the difficulty and to help others who are facing something similar.

12. God wants the best for me.

Deut 8:16b says: "so that in the end it might go well with you." Only God knows how to take a terrible circumstance and somehow bring good from it. God has promised He will bring beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3). Do not give up because God is with you. He loves you much more than you could ever understand. He wants good things for you and is working through every situation in your life. This is true even when you do not feel it. That is the great thing about God's love--it never changes! He has done so much for you even in the trial "so that it may go well with you."