Lesson from a Spray Can

June 24th, 2022

Today's blog is a timeless message from our president and founder, Carl Kerby. Read this humorous but pertinent lesson that shows what can happen when we fail to follow the instructions provided for us.

Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Recently, I was blessed to take some folks on a dinosaur dig in Glendive, Montana! We found amazing bones and had experiences that will last a lifetime. One experience I was reminded of from a similar dinosaur dig back in 2018 left an impression I’d love to share with you today.

My dear wife is so kind, she packed everything that would I need during the trip. One very important piece was a can of spray-on sunblock.

On the first day, as we were getting prepared to hike up to the dig site, I pulled out my can of sunblock and tried to spray it on my arms. To my frustration, it wouldn’t spray—all it did was run down the can.

Arrrgh!—a brand new can of sunblock, and it was already broken! In my head, I was thinking about how stupid the design was that it would break so easily. Anyway, I pressed the spray button, let it run down the can, then smeared the sun block from the can onto my hands. It worked, and we had a great day, plus I didn’t get sunburned.

The next day, as I pulled the can out to go through the process again, I happened to look closer at the can. I noticed something that I’d not noticed the day before. There was a dial under the sprayer. I twisted the dial and pushed the sprayer, and this time it worked just fine.

We’re not going to be able to answer the challenging questions of today if we try to use man’s wisdom and discount God’s Word.

Here’s what this incident taught me: We’re living in a time when there are many who are frustrated, angry, or even disappointed with God. I have conversations with young folks who say they can’t believe in God because a good God wouldn’t allow the evil that we see.

May I say that if we’re going to address this issue, we’re going to have to use the Bible correctly. We’re not going to be able to answer the challenging questions of today if we try to use man’s wisdom and discount God’s Word. If we do, we’ll use the Bible the same way that I was using that can of sunblock—incorrectly! By the way, if we use the Word of God incorrectly, why should we expect a good outcome?

Blaming God for the evil that we see in the world isn’t the answer. And, if we’re going to blame God for something, shouldn’t we at least take a look at what He says about Himself on the topic?

He told us that He wants to have a relationship with us and doesn’t want anyone to be separated from Him (2 Peter 3:9).
God makes it clear what He wanted for us by what He gave us initially, and that’s perfection. At the end of creation everything was perfect—no death, no tears, no sorrow (Genesis 1:31).
It’s NOT God’s fault there is death and suffering in the world; it’s our fault! He gave us perfection, and we rejected it, which caused the problems that we see today (Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:21).
Our sin caused death (Romans 5:17; 6:23; James 1:15, plus MANY more).

My anger for what I see in the world and blaming God for it is the same as using that spray can incorrectly.

Amazingly, we’re free to use the Bible that way. God loves us so much that He allows us to receive or reject what He tells us. We can mock, ridicule, place blame, etc., but it will never help resolve the issue that each of us ultimately has—that we need a relationship with the one who created us in His image and loved us enough to die for us while we were rejecting Him!

God loves us so much that He allows us to receive or reject what He tells us.

Make sure that you’re using the Word of God correctly. Because if you’re not, you could end up in a place you won’t like. Stay Bold!

To learn more about our Founder and President, Carl Kerby, or to book him as a speaker, please click HERE.

Read Carl’s testimony and his heart for ministry in his book, Reasons for Hope in the Mosaic of Your Life. Available HERE at our Reasons for Hope Store.

We also encourage you to purchase our newest ministry book, Did Jesus Commit Suicide? And 27 Other Questions That Teens Have About the Bible (that adults want to know, too) to help you answer questions from a biblical worldview that teens are asking today. Click HERE.