Sunday, March 16, 2008

I AM is enough.

1:56 AM by Christi Bowman

Christians, unlike me, are performing miracles...TODAY!! They are seeking God and healing people's arms and legs...they are freeing the sick from diseases...and they are raising people from the dead...in places like Mozambique. They are unlike me, because they are dead. They are unlike me because Jesus lives through them...because they drank from the living water...they don't thirst...because HE IS ENOUGH!!

So tonight at Willow Creek...Kev says..."I don't just believe they are raising people from the dead in Mozambique...I want to see it". I nod, but inside my head I say "I don't want to just see it...I want to do it". I was not being noble or anything...I thought it would be cool...I guess I wanted the glory. I immediately knew that was an evil thought though...because part of me was serious...and I knew that if I ever was to be apart of anything like that...even if it was just seeing it...I could wish for no glory for myself...and that meant being completely unselfish...or having Christi die. Now that is a completely foreign concept to me...something I have absolutely no experience doing. I quickly prayed in my head...as we were walking through the halls "Lord...show me how to die". That was it...I didn't dwell on it anymore. Later, in the service I heard someone on stage say "when God's people seek Him He doesn't just stand around". I thought...man...that's good...but I had no idea how quickly that would prove to be true in my own life.

We get home, the kids are down...and I start to pick up where I left off in Exodus. I read Exodus 14-17. That starts me off with the Israelites heading towards the Red Sea. The Lord just gets them out of Egypt...and they find themselves trapped by a big body of water...with all the armies of Egypt in hot pursuit. We know that God is with them because in the end of chapter 13, God tells us that He "went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. 22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people." Still the people are afraid...they "cry out to God", and tell Moses that they would have been better off in Egypt as slaves. Moses tells the people "God will fight for you", and through God, Moses parts the Red Sea. The Israelites walk through on dry land, and all the armies of Egypt are killed as they try to walk through after them.

A short time later, in chapter 15, the Bible says "they went three days in the wilderness and found no water". They finally end up in this place called Marah...it has water...but it's bitter...so the people complain to Moses...Moses cries out to God...God shows him a tree, and tells him to cast it in the bitter water, and when he does the water is sweet...and drinkable. God lets them know that was a test (which they didn't pass), and He leads them to this place called Elim with 12 different wells, and 70 palm trees...in the MIDDLE OF THE DESERT...now THAT IS how God provides water. God is obvious...God is intentional...God is EXTRAVAGANT.

In 16 we see them complain about the lack of food, and we see that once again God gives them what they need. He feeds them, but He attaches some rules as to the collection of the food...as a test. They don't obey His rules...so they fail His test again...but He loves them...and He still provides. The Bible says He fed them, everyday, for 40 years, while they wandered the desert...until they reached Canaan. God is faithful even when we are not.

The Israelites continue on their journey, and camp at Rephidim. Again, their is no water. The people get irate, and in verse 2 they demand “Give us water, that we may drink.”. Moses rebukes them, and goes before God...and God tells Moses to take his rod and strike the rock (some foreshadowing) to get water. Moses does what God requires, and the Israelites get their drink.

As I come to the end, of the reading part, of my study, I begin to think about what all this has in common. I reflect on the fact that, every time they experience a real physical need, they cry out to God, and I begin to wonder if, maybe, God just wants us, instead of asking Him for what He knows we need, to just know that it will be taken care of...in His timing. I think He is telling me to trust...to just have faith. I write that down in the margin, and head off to do some last minute things before bed. As I am pulling stuff out of the dryer though, I am reminded of a verse in chapter 13..."So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea". God was pointing out that He took the Israelites the long way. He wanted time...to teach them to depend on Him. As I was talking to Kevin about the long way, and what significance that held for me, we began to discuss what God might be teaching them. God was THERE the whole time. In the cloud during the day, and in the fire at night. What was it they REALLY needed? Physically they needed food and water...but they NEEDED Him...and they had that...He had already given them that. He wanted them to realize that HE WAS ENOUGH for them. They had HIM. They had EVERYTHING.

Kevin pointed out that the Garden is the ultimate manifestation of God being enough. In Eden, when everything was perfect, when Heaven and Earth were one...when God's Kingdom reigned in heaven AND on earth...we wanted for NOTHING...we didn't even know how to want...we didn't know what want was. We didn't know we were naked...we didn't NEED clothes...we didn't care... because HE WAS THERE...HE WAS ENOUGH!! Then sin entered our world...heaven and earth were no longer one, and we knew want. We knew we wanted to hide because we were naked. We were separated from Him...He couldn't be there for us...He had to turn His back on us...He couldn't be our enough...without sacrifice He couldn't be enough. That is why our story is the ultimate love story...He payed the ultimate price so He could be our enough again. That is all He wants...to be ENOUGH. That is why He refers to Himself as I AM...He is everything...He is ENOUGH. That is what everything being made right is, it is us unremembering how to want.

The best news though, is that when we become His, here on earth, even while earth is still flawed, we can be restored...and we can pray God's Kingdom into being NOW...matter of fact we are supposed to...Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done ON EARTH as it is in heaven...the Lord's prayer...that is what it is, God's Kingdom is NOT just for us when we die...His Kingdom...His promises...they are for us NOW. We just have to pray it here...on earth...and we will never thirst again...because HE is our enough. Right here, on this flawed planet, we posses the ability to become so filled up with Him, that we die...that is what dying to self is...it is the realization that you don't need anything but Him...and now we come full circle...

I asked God to show me what dying to myself was all about...to show me how...and He did. I have grown up hearing "drink from the living water, and you will never be thirsty again", but it never made sense until now. Nothing else matters once you have Jesus. We don't need earthly water when we have living water; just like we don't need earthly things when we have the LIVING GOD. His burden IS easy, and His yolk IS light. Can you imagine what the world would look like if we, as Christians, could grasp His promise that He was truly enough for us? Teenage Christian girls wouldn't be too busy longing for teenage boys...and needlessly getting their hearts broken...because HE IS ENOUGH. Teenage Christian boys wouldn't lust after girls...and use them...because HE IS ENOUGH. Christian people wouldn't run after money...and things to numb their pain...because HE would be ENOUGH.

This could do wonders for missions...for the least of these. The problem wouldn't look so unsolvable. We could actually enter into their pain, we could take on their pain, because Jesus is enough for us...and we could show them that He could be enough for them too...even in their suffering. We could testify to Him being ENOUGH, because we would suffer right along with them...and they could see HIM being ENOUGH for us. We could give of all of our God given resources, and when we were tapped that would be o.k., because we would trust Him to be our ENOUGH...and we would trust him to provide for us...in HIS timing. GOD IS ENOUGH missions would look like Elim...12 wells and 70 palm trees (Ex 15:27) , in the desert that is Big Bend Swaziland, and we would eat manna from heaven EVERYDAY, because if we had faith like this no one would starve...and we would heal the people dying of aids, and we would raise the dead so they could tell others...and with this kind of faith we could reach all nations, and everything would be restored, and the end could come (Matt 24:14). We would ALL be reunited with God FOREVER.

Last Sunday I met Seth Barnes, president of Aim missions, He was speaking at a Baptist church in town. He said that to die happy you have to dream God's dreams...you have to dream the God sized dream that God gave to you. My God sized dream is for myself to be a GOD IS ENOUGH Christian, and to join more Christians like that, In Africa, and live that out and see REAL miracles...Kingdom building miracles...earth ending miracles...in Swaziland.

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