Our beautiful, four-year-old daughter Dani is a great doorstop.

I know you might find it hard to believe, but our daughter is really effective at keeping the door leading to and from the garage (with a very strong closer on it) open for us to move boxes—or anything else—in and out of the house.  It’s her way of helping and because she is little, it’s usually the most she can do to help.

But she always wants to do more.  We’ve been packing for what seems like a month and every time I was moving a large box with a hand truck (or with my hands!), she’d run under it and say, “I’ll help you, daddy!”  It was sweet but unnecessary.  Moreover, it was useless.  She just couldn’t carry those boxes.

She could, however, hold the garage door open so I could move the boxes into the garage.  She could be a doorstop for me.

And when it comes to our spiritual lives, I wonder how many of us desire to be the “box carrier” instead of the doorstop for God.  We read in Psalm 84:10-11:

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

the Lord bestows favor and honor;

no good thing does he withhold

from those whose walk is blameless.

It’s easy to think of God as so familiar to us that we forget He is a King—THE King.  When we come into His presence, we are entering a throne room.  Yet, it is the place where we belong.  This is what the Psalmist is reminding us of here: in the Lord’s palace is provision and protection.

Moreover, He is the all-powerful King capable of doing more than we could ever possibly imagine or dream!

Our King is our provider.  He illuminates our lives and gives “favor and honor” to us, His dearly loved children.  When we walk in His favor and pathway, He gives us things that are good for us.

After all, we read Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:11: If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Where we get ourselves “out of whack” is we sometimes—if we’re honest—want to be king instead of the servants.   We want to carry the boxes of our lives instead of simply being the doorstops holding the door open for our all-powerful King.

There’s a part of us that wants to do all the work ourselves and asking God just seems like too much trouble for Him (or us?).  If there’s any lesson I’m learning through this process of planting a church it’s this: I can’t do it…but He can.

Let’s be beautiful doorstops for our Lord while He opens the doors, carries the boxes, and does the heavy lifting.  We have a part to play, beloved; just don’t forget which job.