Episode #279 When you Feel Behind & Not Enough – Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Hey, friends, today we're talking about trusting God when we're tempted to hustle. This is a topic that really hits home for me in this season. My kiddos are home from school. I'm recording this during summer break. I also have some big writing deadlines that I'm working on and some exciting stuff that's coming up, and I can easily fall into this hustle perspective. And one of the things that's problematic about that is it can feel like no matter what I do or how much I do, it's still not enough. I'm still behind. There's more I could be, or should be, doing.

For me, that shows up a lot as a symptom of operating from lack. I don't have enough. I'm not enough. I should be farther. I need to do more. All of those things are emphasizing what I do not have versus the invitation that God offers us, me included, is to operate from our longing. To yield the things that we might want or need to do, and instead receive more that God wants to offer to us.

In Matthew 5, this is the Beatitudes, and in verse 6, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

And righteousness means right standing with God. Blessed are those who come from a place of lack because they long to have more closeness with God, because they long to have more life with God. Because they want greater intimacy, because God will fill them. If you come with this longing, you will be filled.
I'm talking about this today because I'm still learning about the discipline of simplicity. And I'm reading Richard Foster's book, the Celebration of Discipline, and he defines simplicity as the freedom to trust God for all things.

He says, "The central point for the discipline of simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of his kingdom first and then everything necessary will come in its proper order."

Foster says that "Freedom from anxiety is characterized by three inner attitudes. If what we have we receive as a gift, and if what we have is to be cared for by God, and if what we have is available to others, then we will possess freedom from anxiety. This is the inward reality of simplicity."

He references Matthew 6, “Do not lay it for yourself treasures on earth.” God's not saying that the heart should or should not be where the treasure is. He's stating the plain fact that wherever you find the treasure there, you find the heart.
So looking at Matthew 6 in this passage, Jesus he talks about how you cannot serve two masters. You can't love both God and love money. And then he goes into talking about how we don't have to worry about our lives, what we'll eat or drink, or what we'll wear because we can trust God for it.
Picking it up in verse 26, he says,

26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

God provides for what we need to eat. He cares for us in really tangible ways. But I've also gone through seasons where I wish God provided a little bit more for me. I remember one season as a kid where we had food to eat that included pearl onions for every meal for a little bit. But we had food. I remember feeling like, man, I wish God's provision for me was just a little bit different, a little bit better than what it seems to be. I wanna include that note here because like those are real questions that we can have and bring to God. Don't let those wrestlings pull you away from drawing near, let them propel you closer to God. He wants to talk with you about these needs. He wants to show you how he is showing up for you.

God's word does not return void. He does show up. His care for you is real. And especially in seasons of hustle where there's a lot going on, where we can put pressure on ourselves to do more, to be more, where we can feel really aware of our lack. I believe there's beautiful invitations from God to trust him in a greater and different way. To come to him and prioritize our longings, to ask him to help us hunger and thirst for him first. To ask him to help us to trust him, especially in the ways where we might have a tendency to rely too much on ourselves or to wanna take matters into our own hands.

So the question I'm leaving us with today actually has to do with receiving and resting. Because we trust God, because we believe that he cares for us and that when we seek Him and his kingdom first, he'll show us what to do and he will care for us every step along the way.

And so here's that question that you can take to him:

God, what's something you offer me to receive from you instead of trying to earn it by myself?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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