Enough

And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” (1 Samuel 4:3 ESV)

Tonight's passage spoke to me about being careful about the application of faith.  The Israelites did not have faith that God would give them the victory, they had faith that the ark of the covenant would.  The very thing that God had used and dwelled in became the object of their faith.  

In our lives today, it might look something like this:  "God, I need ________".  Then God gives you what you asked for.  Months later you are in a jam and rather than rely on God, you rely instead on _______. The very thing that God gave to us, becomes the object of our faith.  We humans tend to do this a lot, that is, try and do things on our own.  Even worse, we try to twist things into seeming like they are what God wants.  

The truth is, and will always be, that we He wants us to be completely reliant on Him...Him alone, not the stuff He can get us, do for us, etc...He wants to be EVERYTHING.  

That's a tough message sometimes, but it is so true, and so very freeing.  The God of the universe wants to be our sole desire. He wants it so badly that He sent Jesus from Heaven to Earth, suffered the cross and paid the debt for our sin.  

I know so many people who wonder about themselves "am I enough?".  The answer to that question is ironically a different question all together..."Is He enough?"  We will never be less valuable to God.  We are His desire, and He wants us to trust and rely on Him.  He stands at the door and knocks...don't be afraid to open the door.  

I think John Piper sums it up nicely "God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him".