Skip to main content

Fulfilled From A Fulfillment Center?

I’m dating myself here…

I used to order from catalogs, the paper ones that came in the mail.  The catalogs had camping gear, clothes, gifts, you name it.  You found the item or items you wanted, wrote the item number(s) on an order form, put the order form in the envelope, wrote out and enclosed a check, put a stamp on the envelope and mailed it to the catalog company.

Once the company received it and processed your check, they boxed up the item(s) and shipped it to you from a distribution center (sometimes called a processing center or mailing facility or packaging facility).

Then came Amazon…

No more paper catalogs.  No more paper order forms.  You don’t mail a check in an envelope.  Instead you have on line shopping carts and charge cards on file and stored address information.

Not only all that, but distribution centers (or processing centers, mailing facilities and packaging facilities) seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur.  Now Amazon uses fulfillment centers to get your order together and ship it to you.

Just think, your desires, in the form of items that you order, are now fulfilled from a fulfillment center.  Wow!  What could be better!  But to clarify, the desires fulfilled from their fulfillment centers are limited to what you can buy from Amazon, although that probably encompasses just about everything!

Which leads us to the age old dilemma of desires versus needs; we might desire something that we really don’t need.  Or, we might need something that we don’t desire.

The good news is that the dilemma is solved, not by Amazon, but by God.  He knows exactly what we need:

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  (2 Cor 9:8)

Not only does He know what we need, He provides all that we need!

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  (2 Peter 1:3)

Not only does provide all that we need, He provides everything that we need!

But the “all” and the “everything” are not necessarily just for ourselves but that we may be engaged in good works and that we might live godly lives.  So in order for us to do both, He knows exactly what we need and He provides it!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Can't Get No Satisfaction

One of the songs that were popular in my youth was not particularly upbeat or helpful but it probably did express some of the angst of my generation.  It was not one that particularly resonated with me but as I recently read the book of Haggai, it did come to mind, well, at least some of the lyrics did.  It was the Rolling Stones song with the lyrics “I can’t get no satisfaction”.  Take a look at the chorus of that bleak song:   I can't get no satisfaction; I can't get no satisfaction; Gonna try and I try and I try and I try; I can't get no - I can't get no –   Now take a look at Haggai 1:6 – “ You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” It sure sounds like the people of Judah couldn’t get any satisfaction with the things of life that normally should have brought some type of s...

A Horse Of Course

In Biblical times, horses represented military power and strength.  And if you had both horses and chariots, well, that was the ultimate of military powers and wars were often won with them. Yet in seeking to have what would normally be considered insurmountable military strength, there was one factor that was often overlooked.  The Psalmist made it clear what that factor was when he wrote:  “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”   (Ps 20:7) While Israel did at times trust in the name of the Lord, there were other times when they tried to trust in horses and chariots to win their battles.  This is what the Lord spoke to Israel through the prophet Isaiah:  “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,   who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots   and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord .”  ...

Stouthearted!

Steve the Stouthearted; it has a nice medieval ring to it, maybe even middle earth overtones.  I noticed that word “stouthearted” recently in Psalm 138, verse 3:   “When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted.”   (NIV, 1973) The word stouthearted is used in the Bible to describe individuals who exhibit courage, determination, and resilience, often in the face of adversity or opposition. This characteristic is seen as a virtue, reflecting steadfastness in faith and purpose. The stouthearted are those who remain firm in their convictions and are not easily swayed by fear or doubt (from The Bible Hub website). And yet to be bold and stouthearted for most is not something that just comes naturally, we need the Lord to make us bold and stouthearted.   And, from the verse above, it appears that he does so in response to us calling on him.   So it probably wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that those who have been made bold and stouth...