Is God Really Enough?

This blog was originally published on 4/20/15.

This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives." Jeremiah 17:5-6

Is God really enough for me?  That's an answer I intellectually know to be "yes", but after some heart-searching, I sense is not always true for me.  Ouch.  Admitting that I rely on what I can immediately see, or what I can do in my own strength leaves me wondering if God really is enough for me.  

When I'm wrestling with the worries of finances, future plans, unmet expectations, and unanswered prayers, I let my circumstances overshadow what I know to be true about God.  He is faithful.  I say that with confidence.  Not just because the Word says so, but because I have seen Him move throughout my life and countless other people's lives.  So what allows me to slip back to a place where the enemy can whisper lies that linger in my head and mess with my mind?

There are two reasons why I believe this happens:
1) I've sat down my shield to pick up something new and shiny.  ("Oooo!  This worry looks good.  What shield of faith?  This worry is right here in front of me.  I can't resist picking it up!")
2) I'm running with purpose for God and the enemy wants to derail me.

Either option leaves me disheartened and distracted from what God has called me to do.  Thankfully, God is onto satan's schemes and warns us that the enemy will be on the prowl.  I'm not powerless though.  As my pastor likes to say, we pick up our cross daily because we most likely dropped it yesterday. 

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18

Did you catch what it says in verse 16? We are being renewed day by day.  How do we get renewed?  It is through prayer, time in God's Word, and focusing our thoughts on the One who is in control that we go from a place of drought and doubt, to a place of peace and hope.  While this answer is one that you've most likely heard before, I want to assure you that there's a reason why... IT WORKS!  Let me add my own disclaimer: praying, reading the Bible, and focusing on God will not bring all financial worries to an end.  It will not guarantee a beach house or mountain retreat in my future.  It will not promise the end to trials and really dark days.  But it will close in the gaps.  

Jeremiah 17 doesn't leave us in the desert.  There is a promise for those who hope in the Lord: “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.  They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (vs. 7-8)