He is enough. Yet, I get distracted by shiny things. I see a friend walk by with something shiny and new. Or I hear about how a good, responsible person owns this, or that, and I get stuck with a mindset that is not my own. I’m left sitting with thoughts that have nothing to do with what I value in life. I start to rush toward these things, filling my life with work in order to afford them. Ordering my days around sales and expected coupons in the mail. I load up.
I load up my life. My hours, my days, my months are all full. Then in a moment of Lenten victory, my Lord asks me to sit and look at what I have loaded up on. Asks me if these things are worth my life. He says, “I am enough.” He shows me himself in the desert. He says, “Look at how I feasted.” “How you feasted? You had nothing.” my heart replies. “I had everything.” is the reply.
When Satan told Jesus to turn the stone into bread, his response was, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.'” He was quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, which says, “Yes he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that the people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
I don’t know about you, but bread seems, to me, a very basic need. In fact, if I were craving food, I wouldn’t spend much time wondering if it was out of necessity or out of want. I would go get myself some breakfast.
But, what else am I doing this with? What else in my life is only a “basic need” because I have followed someone else’s mindset? God knows that we need bread, that is why he said, “People do not live by bread alone.” but if we are filling our lives with all the things that others say we need, will there be room? Will there be room for the feasting?
Or, is that where we should start? Today, when I sat listening to his words in scripture, all I could hear was, “I am enough.” When the Holy Spirit led him to the desert, we assume that he was being called away to do something difficult. But could it be, that the Holy Spirit was drawing him away from the stuff of life so that he could be filled with the real life giving stuff? Could it be that the Holy Spirit saw his real need was not for carbohydrates and water, but for the life giving water that lasts forever? (John 4:14) Could it be that when we are in our own deserts, the places that are more spare and lack the comforts we desire, the Holy Spirit is drawing us away to drink at the well of abundant life? Could it be that the most spare places are actually the places where we are richest?
I forget. I forget when my toaster breaks, or when the check engine light comes on in my car. I forget that He is enough. He is more than enough. He is my feast in this dry and parched land.
This chica just started dance lessons.
Whatever is Lovely 