“The Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need.” Psalm 23:1 NLT
“Sufficiency is not the quantity of what you have; it is the quality of what’s essential.”
My thoughts today ask, “missing anything?”
When you look at everyday life, what do you see first – what you have or what you don’t? Funny how many people will be more readily aware of what they want and lack than all that they have. Things you think would make you happier and more content are still just things, and as hard as it is to believe, things can make you neither happy nor content, except momentarily. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it is well said, “Joy doesn’t come from what you drive, deposit, or dwell in.”
Such things always seem to require just a little more to be enough. If what you have is not enough to be joyful and thankful now, why would a little more of the same suddenly be enough? Life is really never about the quantity of what you have; it is about the quality of what you consider essential.
The Bible teaches this as possible for you: “I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need” Philippians 4:11-13 NLT. Having or not having is irrelevant; Christ helping you by giving you all you need, now that’s significant!
If you were asked to list your reasons for praise and your requests for prayer, which list would be easier for you to make and take longer for others to read? When you think about it honestly, you should have more reasons to give thanks to God than needs for God to fill. The Bible teaches that thankfulness should be at the center of every request, “In everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God . . and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:6-9 NIV.
“God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8 NKJV. What is God’s desire for you? His intention for you is clear, “always having all sufficiency in all things!” What more should it take for you to be full and overflowing? God does not want you to be without; He wants you to have sufficiency that is satisfying. When the Lord is your Shepherd, there is nothing you need that you will lack. When you truly rest your fullest satisfaction in God, you will trust His sufficiency for all else.
My prayer for you today is that you know beyond doubt that God is enough at all times.