Walking With Christ

Numbers 14:1-2 (1)Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. (2)And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!'(ESV)

Why is it that people always ask God for more without knowing what they already have? The children of Israel already had food, water, and divine protection against anything the wilderness might bring.

Luke 19:4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.(ESV)

Zacchaeus already had a divine appointment with Jesus. The tree he would use to get above the crowd had been there for many years before that day. Zacchaeus didn’t know that he already had an appointment. If that tree had not been there though, Zacchaeus may have given up seeking what he didn’t know he already had.

Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.(ESV)

Why? God will, and probably already has, provided for everything we will need. Contentment does not rely on external circumstances.

Philippians 4:11-13 (11)Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. (12)I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. (13)I can do all things through him who strengthens me.(ESV)

1 Timothy 6:6-8 (6)But godliness with contentment is great gain, (7)for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. (8)But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.(ESV)

My grandma was a hoarder. My dad was a hoarder. I was well on my way until my lovely wife informed me that I was wrong and didn’t need twelve of everything. I’m still struggling with that mentality but God bless her for being patient with me. My dad would work on a project and need a specific thing for said project. He would go buy a new one for the project even though he had six of them sitting at home. When asked why he bought new he would always respond by saying that he might need those later.

The unfortunate thing is that later never came. When it came time to actually use most of those things, they had sat unused and nearly forgotten for so long that they had rotten or rusted away to the point of being unusable. It’s like when the children of Israel were told not to store mana for the next day because they would always have enough. There were still plenty who tried to hold on to some for the next day. Just like much of the stuff my dad stored for decades, the mana was rotten when they went back for it. They could not store too much or too little. They always had exactly the amount that they needed for that day.

Mana is a lesson in grace. We can’t store grace for use later. We can’t borrow from the grace we are going to receive tomorrow. We have exactly the amount of grace we will need for today, this moment. We can’t use too much because there is an unlimited well of it. Using less grace than we actually need does us no good either because we can’t store it for later. We can’t borrow from tomorrows portion of grace but we can borrow from tomorrows portion of trouble. We can carry burdens from yesterday that should have been left behind. Neither option is healthy or intended for us. Both are outside of the will of God for our lives. Lesson: put it down today and don’t borrow from the trouble of tomorrow by worrying about it today. Tomorrow will take care of itself.

Let me encourage you today to be content with what you have. Asking for more often invites trouble by borrowing from the trouble of tomorrow rather than an increase in blessing. If we take the time to appreciate what we already have we will often find that we already have what we need.