Monday Meditation: ‘Tell Me a Story,’ Part 6: Getting what I deserve
Anyone unemployed can identify with the plight of the workers in this story, but maybe not their dire situation. They were day laborers, without benefits or any kind of security, hoping to earn enough to feed their family just until tomorrow.
The boss in this story frustrated many of his workers, and we can understand why. Most of us, if hired in the morning, would bristle to discover we were paid no more than the guys who came on the job at 4:00 p.m.
“That’s not fair!” we’d likely complain. And we’d be right. And that’s the point.
The parable points out that God’s justice is different than ours. He offers something better than fairness. He extends grace.
The boss knew the workers hired last couldn’t survive on just a fraction of the low daily wage he was offering, so he gave everyone the same pay. Regardless of the hours worked, every laborer returned home with money for that night’s meal.
If we want to compare the workers to ourselves and the boss to God, we can draw a couple of conclusions.
First, we could say we’re day laborers, too. We’ve used up all the physical strength and spiritual sustenance afforded to us yesterday. And we really don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We need resources just to get through today.
We need resources just to get through today.
No one experiences this more than caregivers. We gave all we had to do yesterday’s work, but we know the same list of tasks is waiting for us today. We found a way to alleviate at least some of yesterday’s stress, but we know we’ll likely feel it again by bedtime tonight.
Second, God will provide, and we don’t need to earn what he will give! He has far more compassion on us than the man in this story demonstrated. He is the giver of “every good and perfect gift,” and he’s eager to lavish them on those who will admit their need for his help.
And there’s one more possible lesson for us in this story. These workers, like men and women throughout time, wasted precious energy on comparing themselves with each other. Complaining accomplished nothing for them, and it won’t help us, either.
Complaining accomplished nothing for them, and it won’t help us, either.
We will not become richer by fretting about another’s wealth. We will not become wiser by criticizing another’s extravagance.
And money isn’t the only issue. The curse of the caregiver is to look around at others’ lives unhindered by the disability under their roof and ask, “Why me?”
Instead, we do well to focus on the gracious one who called us to do our work—his work—today’s work. He’ll give us what we need to handle every duty. And we can be glad.
Read: Matthew 20:1-16
Pray: Thank you, Lord, for giving me today what I need for today. No matter what others have received from you, I know what I have from your hand is enough, and I’ll trust you for tomorrow when tomorrow gets here.
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