This morning I read the Jesus Storybook Bible with Eliya, Isaiah and Joel. The story for the day was from Matthew 6, where Jesus compares us to the birds who don’t have to worry about their food. The questions hit home as we all wonder what Today will look like as the coronavirus infects the world.
“What if we don’t have enough food? Or suppose we run out of money? What if there isn’t enough? And everything goes wrong? And we won’t be all right? What then?”
And then the silly image of birds going grocery shopping was particularly poignant:
“Where do they get their food? Perhaps they have pantries all stocked up? Cabinets full of food?”
How many of us have pantries and cabinets all stocked up right now?
Is God enough? All by himself? Or is God enough all by himself when our cabinets are full?
We just had to teach our kids the meaning of a rhetorical question last week. We are going through Romans 8 and it says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” They all exclaimed, “Satan!” Well, yes. Technically correct. But compared to God’s great power, Satan’s power doesn’t even matter. So it’s as if no one is even against us.
So I realize that “is God enough?” seems like a rhetorical question. We know the answer is, “yes, he is enough.” But I know it doesn’t always feel that way.
These “enough” questions pester me all day like mosquitoes at dusk during August in Minnesota. It is exhausting to constantly give them to Jesus and say, “I can’t control this.” I know I need to keep slapping at the pests, but it’s not relaxing; I’m always on guard waiting for the next one to pounce.
So in this time of high anxiety and uncertainty for the future, how do we not worry? How do we find rest? Let’s not waste this opportunity of outer chaos to reflect and see if we truly know in our depths that God is enough. All by himself.
The end of this story in the Jesus Storybook Bible was satisfying for me today.
“It [is] the song people’s hearts were made to sing: “God made us. He loves us. He is very pleased with us.”
I can rest in that.
Let’s reflect that truth with our whole lives.
“What if we don’t have enough food? Or suppose we run out of money? What if there isn’t enough? And everything goes wrong? And we won’t be all right? What then?”
And then the silly image of birds going grocery shopping was particularly poignant:
“Where do they get their food? Perhaps they have pantries all stocked up? Cabinets full of food?”
How many of us have pantries and cabinets all stocked up right now?
Is God enough? All by himself? Or is God enough all by himself when our cabinets are full?
We just had to teach our kids the meaning of a rhetorical question last week. We are going through Romans 8 and it says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” They all exclaimed, “Satan!” Well, yes. Technically correct. But compared to God’s great power, Satan’s power doesn’t even matter. So it’s as if no one is even against us.
So I realize that “is God enough?” seems like a rhetorical question. We know the answer is, “yes, he is enough.” But I know it doesn’t always feel that way.
These “enough” questions pester me all day like mosquitoes at dusk during August in Minnesota. It is exhausting to constantly give them to Jesus and say, “I can’t control this.” I know I need to keep slapping at the pests, but it’s not relaxing; I’m always on guard waiting for the next one to pounce.
So in this time of high anxiety and uncertainty for the future, how do we not worry? How do we find rest? Let’s not waste this opportunity of outer chaos to reflect and see if we truly know in our depths that God is enough. All by himself.
The end of this story in the Jesus Storybook Bible was satisfying for me today.
“It [is] the song people’s hearts were made to sing: “God made us. He loves us. He is very pleased with us.”
I can rest in that.
Let’s reflect that truth with our whole lives.