Unworthy, But Not Worthless

With another winter’s wood supply cut, split, and stacked, I’ve been reflecting throughout the entire months-long process just how incredible God’s providence is. Not just for me and Judy, but for you, too. It may not be a wood supply for you and your family. Maybe it’s finding the perfect babysitter or childcare just when you had given up. Finding the just-right used car when the old one gives up the ghost. There’s no end to the ways, both small and great, that God reminds us how much He cares.

I’m convinced He wants to keep that thought before us because it draws us into worship and time alone with Him. It sweetens our daily walk with the Lord. It inspires us to show and share our Savior with others. While that includes evangelizing the lost, we must not neglect to uplift and exhort our believing brothers and sisters in Christ. We all need encouragement and it’s a crucial component of God’s design that is often downplayed.

At the woodpile, I think of how impossible it seems that a city boy like me was led to take a risk on a wood stove 31 years ago and learn to run a chainsaw, primarily so me and Judy could fulfill our desire for her to stay home and be a MOM. In those days it took a miracle to do that on a teacher’s salary. But a miracle was ready and waiting.

From one season to the next, I never knew where the next year’s wood supply would come from. But it came. Folks clearing trees or vacant lots. People piling logs by the roadside for the taking. In all those years we've only bought a couple of loads, but much was given to us. I don’t recall ever worrying about not having firewood (even though we dismantled our ancient steam heating system). And we’re still not worried. Now that I’m retired, working with the firewood is my main exercise. And the Lord still has a lot to teach me through that wood.

As I stacked the last few split logs yesterday, a two foot black rat snake wriggled out and sought more permanent cover in a tangle of vines. That might have been a curse for some of my readers, but for me it was another gentle tease from God that He knows my simple pleasures. I smiled and laughed at the mild startle that snake gave me. I know a few field mice I’d like to introduce him to. Anyway, in thinking about God’s provision, I thought that not one thing God has done for me was because I deserved it. The Bible teaches that all our righteousness is like filthy rags before Him. We cannot boast of any achievement because God is the source of it all, and we enjoy what we have at His pleasure. We are most unworthy.

Unworthy, but not worthless. Both believers and non-believers can easily fall into the pit of feeling worthless. It certainly brings a wicked grin to Satan’s face when we’re defeated without even putting up a fight. But if we were truly worthless, would God have ever paid the high price of sacrificing His only begotten Son, Jesus? For the sins we were yet to commit. But He knew we would. We are of great value to our Father in heaven, because He created us in His own image, and He knows that with His Holy Spirit dwelling in us we can become all that He created us to be.

If you doubt your value to God, recall Jesus's parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son (the prodigal son) in Mark 15. Or recall how in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus assured us how our Father cares for every need of the lilies of the field and sparrows of the air. And how His love for us far exceeds that (Matthew 6: 25-34).

The creator of the universe does not really need our service. But our acknowledgment of His Lordship and our demonstrations of obedience, gratefulness, and love are what bring a smile to HIS face.

Know that you and I are loved with a love that passes all human understanding. Even as unlovely as we can sometimes be. And even as unworthy as we are.

Unworthy, but not worthless.