Is He Enough

Can you imagine being a Levite when the land was divided amongst the tribes of Israel? Large chunks carved out for the Reubenites and the Gadites. All tribes were given some portion of the land. Then the Levites stood up to receive their rights, and the portion they were given—nothing. They were the only ones to stand on God’s side during the Golden Calf incident and they were given no land as a reward. They were forced to rely on the gifts of others. They received no piece of the promised land flowing with milk and honey, but they were given “the Lord, the God of Israel” as their inheritance. Would it be enough for you?

            I must admit that this is a harder question to answer than I would like it to be. A dream of mine is to have multiple streams of income that would allow me to travel at will and study what I wish apart from the grind of daily work that simply sustains. If I was offered a guaranteed road to that life or the opportunity to know God, what would go through my mind?

By all measures, God is a better inheritance than any material or emotional gain. However, the lure of what is in front of us often outweighs what we intellectually believe to be truth. God as an inheritance seems distant and abstract. Yet, the question still remains, is God enough? When we say yes, comforting rationale follows close behind. “Yes, God’s enough but, God isn’t asking me to give up that” Or. “Yes, God’s enough, but it’s possible to be a Christian and still do this.”

This isn’t a fanatical call to give up everything right now and walk the earth so as not to crush an ant with the intent of converting every last person through our humble example. This is just a way of reflecting on our honest responses. I’ve noticed in my own thinking that deep down there is always relief when I say God is enough, and I don’t feel called to immediately give something up. I feel relief when I don’t feel like I need to go out and give away my money or give up evenings of my time. I feel like I dodged a bullet. I feel like I got away with that prayer so to speak. Maybe I conclude too quickly what God does or doesn’t want of me. Maybe the relief I feel is because the object of my desire and goals sits higher in my heart than God.

I just finished reading Tozer’s “The Pursuit of God.” In it, he speaks about the longing after God revealed in the lives of great men and women of faith. For them, God was everything. God filled their thinking in all that they did. He talks about how faith is seeing God in our spiritual lives. As proof, he points out that the Israelites were saved because they looked at the serpent on a pole. Yet, when Jesus commented on that story, He said they were saved through belief. There is then a connection between seeing and believing. Faith is continually directing our eyes to God. This amounts to belief.

It definitely has me thinking. Is God my all in all? Does He fill my thoughts? Are my eyes continually turned towards Him? Even as I write, there is a part of me that wants to dampen these thoughts. I keep interjecting “that there is still real life to live,” “cannot be expected to meditate all the time.” Perhaps it is time for some fire and some radical changes.

One of the sayings that haunts me is “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried.” How sad would it be to journey through life never fully pursuing God in our lives because it seems too difficult at times?

This year, I want to pursue God. I don’t want to settle for the good enough. I know there can be more than what I have experienced thus far. I think this was the main point of Tozer’s book. We should analyze what comes first in our own lives and if God is not first, then we need to change everything in order for God to take precedence. I have learned and have seen that anything can take over our spiritual vision. Even positives such as mission and family can blind us to God when they are pursued to distraction. Religious books can replace the Bible in our lives when they become the central portion of our devotions over Scripture.

There are many blessings from God, but it could be we have been blinded by them. We miss the fact that above it all stands God as our inheritance. Him and Him alone. The knowledge of Him is the greatest blessing.

 So, is God enough? Are you pursuing Him?