Friday, July 5, 2013
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Being my wife is a full-time job, and she does a tremendous job of it. In fact, I'm thinking of doubling her pay-I really am. Let's see...two times nothing is...Well, anyway, once in a while we will get so involved in our projects, and she's usually doing them for me, that the laundry will fall a little bit behind. As a result of that, one morning I panicked and I said, "Honey, I don't have any clean shirts!" She said, "You don't have one?" I said, "Well, I have one." She said, "How many are you going to wear today?" That's the kind of practical clarification you get from a wife. See, it is true; I can only wear one at a time. It's nice to have a closet full of shirts, but the fact is, one at a time will do it. I'm okay if I just have today's.
I'm Ron Hutchraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Today's Is Enough."
Let's go to our word for today from the Word of God. I think you'll find these to be familiar words-I'm reading from Matthew 6:9-11. "This, then, is how you should pray" Jesus said, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread." Okay, I'm going to stop right there. You've probably heard these words before; an amazing prayer. We call it The Lord's Prayer.
Did you notice, first of all, how it goes from the cosmic to the microscopic? Yeah, "Hallowed be Your name." Wow! Big stuff. "Your kingdom come." Man! Plugging into the huge things God is doing and the big Father that He is. And then it goes from that, and it just kind of swoops down to this one little deal. It comes right down to this relatively microscopic concern of mine, "What am I going to have for lunch?" By the way, could have my daily bread, please? This awesome God who is so big, who made a hundred billion galaxies, who governs them all, cares about my daily bread. Something so small, and He's so big!
In essence, Jesus is teaching us something here about how to expect God to work in our lives. He said, "Pray for what you need today." And you know what? That's how God always seems to operate. In the Old Testament, He supplied manna for His children. How much did He give them; enough for the month, the week? No, He gave them enough for that day, and they couldn't collect for two days or they'd end up with worms in their manna. He said, "Each day you get it."
When Elijah was cut off from his usual sources of supply because Jezebel was chasing him and wanted his head, remember God sent the ravens to feed him. But how did they do it? They brought him breakfast in the morning and they brought him dinner at night. They never brought breakfast for the next day; they never brought dinner at breakfast time. It was always that day's...in fact it was that meal's supply.
Now Jesus says, "Pray for daily bread." God sends enough-always enough, but seldom does He send a surplus, and there's a simple reason. This is what keeps us trusting our Father, and when we don't, we wander right out of the plan He made us for.
Today you may be looking at some material area of your life and saying, "There's not enough." Maybe you have an emotional need and you say, "There's not enough." Like me, looking for shirts, you're looking in your closet. I wanted shirts for a week, but all I needed was one for that day. You say, "I don't have enough for this week, certainly for this month. What am I going to do in a few months?" And the Lord is saying, "How much do you need today? I will be sure you have that." He will do that every day until you see Him. Isn't that enough? Isn't that all you need to know?
Relax! You will always have today's supply in your closet, and today's is enough.