The God of More Than Enough
Deuteronomy 24:20,21 When you beat your olive trees, you must not go back to check the branches. The olives you leave will be for the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows. When you gather the grapes from your vineyard, you must not go back to gather the grapes you left. They will be for the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows.
Do you know what I’ve noticed? In my country at least, over the last fifty years or so the standard of living has increased significantly. But oddly enough, these days I keep hearing how difficult things are for people, how financially strapped they are. Really?
As the world economy fluctuates up and down, as uncertainty ripples through global markets, as we hear politicians and business leaders talking things up or down (whatever suits their current agenda), it’s easy to come to the conclusion that “Well, you know, I just don’t think I have enough to make ends meet anymore.”
Hmm. So … tell that to the widow whose child is dying for want of clean drinking water. Tell that to the kid who has no parents because of the ravages of AIDS. I know, you think I’m being tough on you. But there’s a reason, because even when we think we don’t have enough it turns out that there’s inevitably more than enough.
Here’s a simple law that God gave to His people way back when. It still speaks into that very reality in our lives today:
Deuteronomy 24:20,21 When you beat your olive trees, you must not go back to check the branches. The olives you leave will be for the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows. When you gather the grapes from your vineyard, you must not go back to gather the grapes you left. They will be for the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows.
Do you know what that tells me about my God? He is the God of more than enough. Every good thing that you and I have comes from Him. And rather than squeezing every last little bit of that out for ourselves, His heart aches for us to share what we have with the poor.
Don’t keep it all to yourself.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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