I've always been a bit of a budget person (ok, since graduating from college), and I remember when Jen and I were anxiously anticipating our wedding day. We had plans to get jobs and start off on our own. I got out the budget, and started figuring how much money we would need to live on - tithe, housing, car, food, insurances, gas, clothes, gifts, and added it all up. It came to slightly more than I was currently making as a waiter. Then, we made our job search trips and applied for jobs at two Christian Schools, and got offers from both schools for each of us. The problem was, my income was not quite up to the level I had figured I needed. Jen's income was going to pay off her student loans, and we were going to live off of my income.
I've come to learn that God enjoys these moments in our lives - those moments when we look and say "I can't do it!", because God likes us to know that He is the one who 'does it' and makes things work in our lives. Think of Gideon with his 32,000 men. God said "The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own had hath saved me." (Judges 6:2) God reduced Gideon's 'army' to just 300 men, a group that could easily fit in most church sanctuaries, against a foe that were "like grasshoppers for multitude."
Knowing this is helping me in learning that when we don't have enough, it should not discourage us, it should encourage us that God is looking to do a work that we cannot deny His hand in. When it comes to serving God on His terms, cherish those times when "you can't", because those are the times that "He will!"
"And he said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.' Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
- 2 Corinthians 12:9
No comments:
Post a Comment