Last night the grocery store’s bare shelves held one bag of Pedigree dog food. It was puppy food and the whole bag would not feed our dogs for one day. Where were the fifty-pound bags of adult dog food? Where were they when I shopped on Friday? And again on Sunday?
This is a supply chain problem. HEB is waiting for Pedigree to deliver dog food. Pedigree is suffering a low supply of eggs and other ingredients needed to manufacture dog food. Completely out of food at home, I bought a bag of Rachael Ray. It smelled like lima beans but the dogs were excited.
I did not encounter the phrase “supply chain” until I began teaching in the college of business. There are courses offered in supply chain management, and professors with doctorates in the field, but for me the phrase (coined in 1982) was a new concept. It’s simple enough–there is a chain of steps supplying products to the consumer:
- Raw materials
- Supplier
- Manufacturer
- Distributor
- Retailer
- Consumer.
Problems with a single link in this chain will create supply chain nightmares, leaving consumers without dog food, toilet paper, eggs, medicines, and more.
Israel faced a supply chain problem. God brought a million people into a wasteland and miraculously provided both food and water, feeding them manna—which they grew tired of. “There is nothing to look at but this manna!” Numbers 11:6. They became unruly begging for meat and God said He would send so much meat they would eat until it made them sick.
But Moses had doubts, pointing out to God the supply chain problem:
“If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” 11:22.
“The Lord answered Moses, ‘Is the Lord’s power limited? You will see…’” Numbers 11:23.
God sent so much quail the birds were piled three-feet deep. Everyone gathered quail and “the one who took the least gathered fifty bushels” 11:32. God does NOT suffer a failure of supply. There are NO supply chain problems with the Lord.
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