"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." (NKJV)
I tend to do one of three things in my car. I either sing to music, bemoan my current situation, or talk to the Father. Yes, usually I’m driving alone, particularly these days. Twice a day, like most Americans, I commute to and from work. I’m fortunate in that my commute is short (about 30 minutes), but it is a rather mundane drive, not from the scenery (which is beautiful), but from the repetitiveness. Because there’s only one road from my house to my school, whether I want to or not, I take the same route everyday. Consequently, during the trip, I either sing to music, complain about my current state of affairs, or talk to the Father.
This particular day I was complaining about what I thought might be the rather permanent loss of a relationship I cherished. I’m old enough to know that sometimes people move apart for any number of reasons and sometimes there’s not particularly anything one can do to stop that. But that didn’t comfort me in the least. I’m rather a loner of a person, so the loss of one relationship leaves a big hole in my social life. Regardless, I was complaining and feeling rather sorry for myself. In the middle of my diatribe, the Lord interrupted me and said, "Robin, aren’t I enough?" To be honest, His question to me took me very much by surprise! Not because intellectually I couldn’t answer the question, but because what came crashing was the reality that I do often try to fill my life and my happiness with more than God, with things other than Him.
It was an eye opener for me.
We spend our lives looking for solutions, for amusements, for ambitions to satisfy our desires. We run around thinking that what we see with our eyes and experience with our lives will somehow, someday make us content. Meanwhile, the Lord waits, wondering when we will realize that He is enough!
In 1 Samuel 13, the prophet Samuel was rebuking the Israelites. The Lord had delivered them from Egypt and established them in the Promised Land (what is, today, the lands of Israel and Palestine). He had created, as a form of government, a theocracy; the Lord was their ruler, their king. But the people had disobeyed Him (multiple times) and had left living in the land Gentile peoples who constantly made war on the Israelites. So the Israelites got the grand idea that what might bring them peace would be to have a king like the other nations. This is what Samuel says in the middle of his sermon to them:
"You came to me and said that you wanted a king to reign over you, even though the Lord your God was already your king." (1 Samuel 12:12 NLT).
"The Lord God was already your king." "Robin, aren’t I enough?"
The Hebrew word for peace is "shalom" and it means much more than the absence of conflict. It means having peace with God. If we want to be content, we have to take our eyes (and our love) off the world and turn to God who wants to be our king! We have to surrender fully to Him and allow Him to order our lives. We have to turn away from loving the world and begin to love God with our whole mind, heart, and strength. God needs to become enough for us.
The things we run after in this life, all of them are temporary! They are passing away. It doesn’t matter how much money or power or fame we can accumulate, things are temporary: relationships, possessions, achievements, even ministries! None of it is lasting. Only the Father and His will are eternal. If we do His will, we will live with Him forever. If we run after the things of this world, we will run forever, without ever reaching, without ever fully achieving, without ever finding that peace and contentment we so desire.
"Do not love the world or the things in the world." When we love, we throw our complete and total commitment to that person or that thing. Think about "falling in love," those first few months of lust and hormones and complete enthrallment with that person. It’s hard to think about anything else and all we want is to be with them. That is how the Lord wants us to think about Him. He wants us to turn away from the temporary things that surround us and to fully throw our commitment, our pleasure, and our hopes on Him!
He is enough! And He has waited patiently for us to discover that truth.
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com
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