Have you ever felt like you just ______ enough? (You fill in the blank.) I assume we all have this phrase set aside and ready to be departed from an area in our mind where we think “I just don’t have enough,” “aren’t good enough,” “can’t give enough,” and etc.
Today I was thinking about this. There are so many things we can go back to in our past and say if only I “had enough”: money, talent, interest, good looks, spirituality, faith, time, and on and on. You name it; I think we’ve said it. Sometimes as we’re thinking these things inwardly, we’re outwardly comparing ourselves one to another and even competing to make ourselves feel better. But, I truly believe this is an attack of the enemy (Satan of course) and is a tool that he uses to move us away from what truly matters. Jesus; He’s what matters! Him and His Kingdom! (Simple, I know, but it’s true!)
We’ll never “be good enough”; we can’t be. Our human nature (our fleshly, carnal nature) prevents us from being that perfect being. We won’t ever have enough. Our flesh seeks more and more. We’re usually interested in having more money, left wishing we had more talents/capabilities or wishing we were more spiritual in some way. But, why? This is the question I asked myself today. Why do we allow these thoughts of aspiring to have more or be more to circulate around in our brain? Why do we then allow what we assume about ourselves and our situations drop into our heart and plant seeds of doubt and confusion?
My theory is that we do this because we’re seeking three things. We want to be loved, wanted and accepted. I think on some level we’re all yearning for this. Sometimes we compare the number of “Friends” we have on Facebook to other friend’s numbers and at other times we might find ourselves in other situations that will give us some sort of indicator of how well we’re doing in the social arena. Those who are single can feel this way or people in general who are not receiving what they think they want or need from people. As humans, we’re longing for some sort of social/spiritual fulfillment. We want to connect, but we’re not sure how.
Well, here’s the answer! God placed these desires in us. He wants us to want His love. He wants us to want Him to want us. And, He wants us to seek His approval and acceptance, not man’s. These feelings that we have, these desires and hungers are set in us from the time we were knit together in our mother’s womb. As babies, we can’t deny that we wanted our parents to care for us. We were hungry, cold and uncomfortable. We were insecure and didn’t want to fall. Even now, it’s instilled in us to want these things from our Heavenly Father.
We want our Heavenly Father to feed us. He will, but will also remind us that we don’t live on bread alone, but every Word that proceeds from His mouth. His Word, His Life, and His Revelation….all these things sustain us as well! He cares for our every need. He is our supplier. Philippians 4:19 says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Then in Genesis 22:14, we find that Abraham discovers that one of God’s names, in Hebrew, is Adonai Yir’eh. We commonly translate this as Jehovah-Jireh – The Lord will Provide, He will see to it. He cares for us; He cares for our every need, but when we don’t recognize that the pulling on our hearts to want this is from Him, we are left distraught, confused, isolated and sometimes angry.
I think that it’s at this point that we begin to look inwardly. We think there’s something wrong with us. If only I had more money to go to college, get the car I want, or _____. If I just had better looks, someone would want to marry me. If I had a better personality, opportunity or talents, I’d have more friends. If only I could pray more, have more faith or take part in more church activities, God would accept me and love me more. Maybe my walk would be stronger. Some of things may be true, but it’s not going to fulfill what we’re truly looking for. The root and origin of our quest for more of something is the need to fulfill the longing we have to be wanted and accepted by God.
We don’t want to be forgotten. We want to be used. We want to have a calling and purpose on our life. We want to live a life of meaning, not wasting it. And, these are good things, BUT we must turn to God and seek Him. The ultimate purpose for our life, before any other thing, is to totally surrender our lives to our Creator and King. We are to, and need to, focus on Him and His plans. When we get so wrapped up in the cares of this world and focus on our lack, we begin to worry and are doing the complete opposite of living by Faith and walking in the Spirit.
Habakkuk 2:4 “…the just shall live by faith.”
2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
In order to find our lives, we must lose our lives for His sake.
Matthew 10:39 “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
This is the greatest calling and #1 only fulfilling thing we can do. Living our lives for any other thing is a complete Waste.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-17 “I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered. 16 I communed with my heart, saying, "Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge." 17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.”
King Solomon was the wisest king to ever live and in his wisdom he discovered that “all is vanity.” He searched to do all and to obtain all that he could. Nothing fulfilled Him. His desire for fulfillment and purpose could only be fulfilled by one thing.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all.”
The conclusion is that our relationship with God is of utmost importance. Him and His love. He is the Great I AM! He is our Heavenly Father. He knows our needs because He placed them there. He is Jehovah – Jireh, our All. We find complete fulfillment in Him. We find our purpose, our identity, our salvation, our hope and our future. We find our life because He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
We don’t need enough. There’s no point in trying to obtain more! God is all sufficient and He is sufficient for ALL our needs. The BIG ones and the small ones. Relax…. And trust Him! He’s got it all covered. We’re His children. We’re the Bride of Christ. When we come to the full revelation of who He is and how much He loves us, we’ll supernaturally come together in unity as the Bride of Christ. We’ll not only find fellowship deeply with our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Husband, but we’ll find each other. God has all the details worked out for our life. We don’t need to put it all together because we can’t! Trust Him to do the work. He’s a very BIG GOD. He’s our almighty El-Shaddai!
God Bless.
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