How many times do we look for more? We’re looking for just the right rug to go in the living room, or the right guest towels, welcome mat, throw pillow. We want the right necklace or shoes. We want a good recipe to try. We want a better phone, more reliable car, more (or less) roomy house, or a job that is more prestigious, better paying, or more flexible. We want more. Yet God says,
There was more than enough. (Exodus 36:7)
I know it might not be the things I named. Perhaps it’s more time to do what you most want to do, even in God’s name. Perhaps it’s the ability to travel more, help more, serve more, study more, pray more, become more. Even when object of our longing is noble, that same longing can get in the way of our faith. We want more when God says there is enough. God might provide more in the future, but for the time being, there is enough.
The context of Exodus 36:7 is the building of the tabernacle. People brought offerings for the building of the sanctuary, yet there was enough.
Enough to accomplish the task God intended.
Perhaps we don’t think there is enough because we go beyond the task God intends. We have plans of our own. We don’t try to understand the task in front of us, so we keep gathering, which keeps us from building and completing what God says we should be doing.
Defining God’s “more than enough” as our “not quite enough” reveals our hearts are set on ourselves instead of God.
What is “not enough” in your life? What does God have to say about it? You might be surprised and find He declares you have more than enough.
I have been struggling with why I can’t find a different job, because the one I am currently in was NOT WHAT I SIGNED UP FOR! (Sound familiar?) But each time I send a resume or apply for a different position within the current system I work for, I am told the job has been filled or is no longer available.
Maybe I just haven’t been listening. This is where God apparently wants me, eve if I long to be elsewhere. Yep. In the wilderness right now. Thanks for posting this, it is very timely!
Discernment is tough sometimes, isn’t it, Shauna? When does God want us to persevere through the obstacles, and when are they put there to stop us? Stay present and be obedient with what is right in front of you, yet follow each prompting the Holy Spirit gives you to seek, change, pursue, etc.!