More Than Enough

To kick off 2017, I was encouraged by one of my friends to join her in a 21-day fast. Since I had never fasted before, I did not know what to expect, but my hope was to experience more of Christ in my life.

As was quickly evident, the beginning of my fast was not a ‘holier-than-thou’ experience, but could better be paralleled with a three-year-old temper tantrum.

Toward the end of the third day of my fast, I began to lose all sanity. While sitting by my computer at work, I began to reflect on the meatless, sugarless, carbless dinner I was about to have – for the third day in a row. The more I thought about it, the more genuinely ticked off I began to feel. By the time 5pm rolled around, my internal temper tantrum was full-scale, and all my mind could think was “THIS IS STUPID. THIS IS STUPID. THIS IS STUPID.”

I left work repeating this mental chant and entered my car – better to be described as a glass case of emotion. I pressed the gas to head home. And then the tears began. Soon enough, what was really going on in my head flooded out.

“This is just like my life right now, God! Just like I can’t eat the good things I want, so too you are holding out on giving me the good things I have prayed for. I’ve been praying diligently for these miracles since I was a young girl, father. Why do I see everyone else receiving all of these things that I have been praying for, but I still lack? Do you really care?”

During my 30-minute drive home, the Lord began to gently remind me of His goodness. He began to show me HOW MUCH food he has provided for me – fruits of all flavors and colors, an array of vegetables filled with nutrition, protein-filled legumes of all kinds. My mind began to clear and I realized – This is all more than enough.

Lovingly He opened my mind: “Lisa, just as you are focusing on the few foods you can’t eat right now, so too you have been focusing on the few things in your life that you can’t have just yet. Remember everything I have done for you. Remember all of the blessings.”

As my mind turned from complaining about the very few prayers that God had not yet answered, I instead began to reflect on all the numerous ways He has provided more than enough for me in my life.

For the past couple of months, I have continued to reflect on this truth of our Lord being more than enough.

I just recently finished reading through Exodus, and God again revealed to me that even when we lose sight of His faithfulness, He still continues to prepare for us more than our minds could conceive. (1 Corinthians 2:9)

God provided miracle upon miracle for the Israelites in their escape from Egypt, and out of His goodness, He continued to call them to Himself, as His people, even in the midst of their unthankful hearts.

After God had provided a way for them out Egypt, away from the rule of Pharaoh, the Israelites quickly forgot all He had provided, as they complained, “If we only had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Exodus 16:3

I love how God’s response was not, “Alright. I’ve already parted a sea for you to escape and provided a way to a new life, so I’m done here now. Later.”

No. Instead, he hears their grumbling and lovingly continues to provide more than enough.

“The LORD said to Moses, I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, at twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord. That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost (manna) on the ground appeared on the desert floor.”  Exodus 16:11-14

Reading Exodus has reminded me of a song my family and I use to sing during Passover Seder called “Deyenu”, which means “it would have been enough”. This song has been passed down from generation to generation of Jewish families, as remembrance of all that God provided during the Exodus.

“If He had brought us out from Egypt,

and had not carried out judgments against them,

Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had carried out judgments against them,

And not against their idols,

Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had split the sea for us,

And had not taken us through it on dry land

Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had taken us through the sea on dry land,

And had not drowned our oppressors in it,

Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had drowned our oppressors in it,

And had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years

Dayenu, it would have been enough!”

As I think on all the ways that God has given me more than enough  – provision of food, provision of health, provision of His presence, provision of talents, provision of work, and on and on – there is one provision that stands above all others – the provision of Jesus Christ.

He has provided His only son, Jesus Christ

As a final sacrifice for all my sins,

He is more than enough!

He has given me eternal life

Through faith in Christ

He is more than enough!

He has opened my eyes to His gospel

And torn the veil so that I could come into relationship with Him,

He is more than enough!

He has made His dwelling place within me

His Holy Temple, where His Holy Spirit lives

He is more than enough!

The provision of Christ, the expected Messiah, is more than enough.