Overflowing

When God gives, He gives. 5000 hungry people? No problem. Jesus wouldn't let his followers leave without having tasted his goodness. (Luke 9) 

You can't meet Jesus and still leave unsatisfied.

When a child asks for a bread, what father would give them a stone?  How much more does our heavenly Father lavish his goodness on us… (Matt 7) 

Interestingly, this amazing miracle happened soon after the disciples came back from a huge trust mission. They were sent out with only the clothes on their back, completely dependent on God's provision. No money, no nothing. The cool thing is, I'm pretty sure none of them starved.

A sharp thought hit me when I read this well-known story. We often proclaim that God is all we need. God is enough. This is true. Outside of Him nothing will truly satisfy. But it goes a little farther. 

All we ever really need, practically speaking, is whatever God chooses to be enough for us to do what he wants us to do.

If he wants us to go from town to town on foot to preach to as many people as possible, and he decides we don't need any material things for that, it is enough. And he provides. If he wants us to study medicine and go out to heal the sick, he provides. If he wants us to have a cozy home and calls us to raise believing children, he provides. If he needs his people in high positions to bring his kingdom there, he provides. And if he wants us to have nothing, so that we can be a testimony of complete trust, he provides, and it's enough. I'm so happy he knows what we can handle. Like the sparrows that flutter about carelessly, we don't have to worry. (Matt 10) 

The problem comes when he doesn't provide what we want. When God pours out love and wealth, but you never get the child you so long for. When you're buried under blessings but you lost the one person most dear to you. When the sun always shines, but there are clouds blocking its rays. Sometimes it is hard to see. 

How easily we forget that our God is the God of abundant blessings. The one who gives a widow enough oil to pay off all her debts. (2 Kings 14) The God of twelve left-over baskets of bread. The God who will provide all of our needs, according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19). He who can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. (Eph 3:20) 

Open our eyes to see.