Getting “Enough” Right

Some days feel sufficient. They are days marked by plenty and include enough to make ends meet. There is enough money, enough clothing, there’s more than enough food, enough time, enough gas, and enough patience. Pressing needs fall by the wayside and give way to ready smiles, easy laughter and perhaps little fear of the future. Peace visits. These days point to a heavenly promise of paradise for those that know Jesus. They are interludes of respite and exceptions to the norm of this broken world. Our hearts long for more of these days and our consciences plead a case for actually deserving them. ‘God is good’ so we expect more of these days to prove it. A good God should lovingly provide good days. There should always be enough.

     Yet most of our days, we spend countless hours trying to figure it all out. Life seems to be a 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle with too many missing edge pieces. In the middle of this dizzying daily scramble, things break, lies are told, cars crash, miscarriages happen, betrayal cuts, children are injured, relationships end, people die, and milk sours. We continually tell ourselves that we don’t have enough and often our wants masquerade as needs.  

     A friend shared with me that she and her husband aren’t sure what to do about their jobs in order to provide for their family. She has a modest income and he is the primary income provider. Together they live comfortably and enjoy many luxuries that 95% of our world will never experience. Her husband travels for extended periods of time. This sacrifice, in order to provide, has reached a tipping point. He no longer wants to miss out on home life but is bound by the fear of not having enough if he were to change careers.

     “Enough what?”, I asked.

     “Money! I can’t see how we could pay our bills”, she replied.

     Just then God reminded me, listening to my friend, of how Jesus handled scarcity in order to teach people then, as He still does now through the Bible. Are you curious about His methods? After all Jesus is God and can simply speak provision. So why doesn’t He give us all that we need or want, all of the time? Well, His ways are not our ways. Allow me to point out what Jesus did FIRST with need in the following Scripture; my prayer is that you would find hope in God’s Word meeting your heart today, right now. Pause and ask God to open His Word to you.

     Jesus had been traveling with His disciples through multiple Galilean regions teaching and healing, first addressing the Jews and now Scripture details His activity in the largely Gentile area near Decapolis. His love and reach is for all people. Jesus addressed a crowd of 4,000+, delivering a message that seemingly trumped hunger pangs. His Words delivered through such compelling teaching, captured hearts in such a way that a people group this large, remained for three days! Imagine! What or who could keep you and your family tethered, without food or provision, to three consecutive days of teaching?

     The promise of hope could.

Mark 8:1-8 (NIV):  

During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

4 His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”

5 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied.

6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

     Wait, what? Seven loaves of bread and a few fish feed a group this size?  Stop! Don’t miss this…the question is ‘how’?

     Answer: I don’t know. I wasn’t there.

     What I do know is that when ‘little’ is handed over to our compassionate Savior, in fact, it can become as ‘much’ as He chooses. And for our benefit today, our hearts would be wise to follow Jesus’ example to FIRST give thanks for what we do have.  Jesus asked His disciples to quantify what they had in hand, in their sight, realized and tangible before them. He then gave thanks to His Father before any multiplication of resources was provided. He thanked His Father before having enough! The truth was, they didn’t have enough. Jesus meets us in truth.

     Perhaps it is time for you to do the same. 

     It may be time for you to be called over by the coach to the sideline, a timeout in life to pause. Take a look around. Have you first stopped to take inventory of what you have in hand before petitioning God for what you lack? A great number of us don’t take the time to truly examine our circumstances or overlook what is immediately in front of us. 

     I asked my friend if she and her husband had closely examined their finances? Had they tracked their spending?  Had they continued to watch expenses and curb unnecessary spending that would provide for a financial cushion while searching for a new job? But most importantly, I asked if they had stopped to simply thank God first for what they HAD today before asking Him to provide more?

     She answered. “No! We never thought to do that.”

     And that became her starting point in sensing Jesus speaking to her heart right in the middle of these verses of God’s Word, freeing her to seek God’s Truth about provision. When we seek God’s wisdom and learn about His way, hope is found. This is what applying Scripture to our lives looks like in relationship with Jesus. It is finding our lives in the pages of Scripture. God Himself will teach you if you seek Him. 

     God knows what we need. He is able to multiply anything we hand Him if it is best for us. Let’s cooperate and begin thanking Him for what we do have. This leads to the very heart of God and that is where we are filled to overflowing. The fear of insufficiency is overcome when we engage our hearts with the eternal hope available to us through Jesus.