When God Isn't All You Have

There’s a popular quote in Christian circles that goes “When God is all you have, you realize that God is all you need.” These words are many times expressed to those going through hardships, conflicts and trials. The words are voiced as words of hope to bring encouragement when it seems like all else is falling apart. Furthermore.  It’s often said, and the Bible reminds of this, that in those moments of despair, depression and confusions that we cling closest to God. We ask for prayer and pray more than we ever have. Looking into my own life, the analysis is very much the same. I’ve relied on God the most and asked for the most help and support in moments of heartbreak, devastating illness, death and personal or professional failures. Your turn to God willingly, and even sometimes unwillingly, when the weight of the world is falling on your shoulders.

Pain and low points are a part of life. They come and go. They are sometimes a result of our own doing, and sometimes completely unexplainable and unstoppable. But, life isn’t just marked by pain. Life also brings moments of success, triumph and just a slew of gifts and blessings.

So what about those moments? When, while life isn’t by any means perfect, it sure is good and you feel as though you are reaping in gifts from above?

Something I’ve been thinking about is how to cling to God when God isn’t necessarily all you have. When life is being extraordinarily blessed, there are ways to still cling to God. Pain produces growth and maturity, but I think that in a season of added goodness, there is much more for growth as well.

I thought about things that I often lack or perhaps have smaller quantity of in the “hard seasons” and I’ve found that it’s commonly focus, time, energy and financial resources. In the periods where life is just weighing on your shoulders, those are the things I try to conserve in an effort to restore myself or a given situation. While I think it’s okay to conserve your energy or say “no” or save money when life stretches you thin, those are areas I want to give more of in a response of thanks to blessings pouring in.   

I think the first step is recognition and thanks for the goodness that’s been given to you. It’s so easy to ask God for things, but all too often we don’t say thanks then those things are given to us. In the moment of excitement, we forget the giver. Remember the story when Jesus healed 10 men from a lifelong struggle with leprosy and only one came back to thank him?

Second, I think it’s never forgetting that all good things are gifts from above and that they weren’t achieved just through our own strengths. I need to be reminded that God is the giver of these things as it says in James: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

As I celebrate the new blessings and additions in my life, I want to make sure that in these joys and high points, I’m striving to cling to God all the more and continue to hold him first above all else. I want to always be reminded that God is always all I need, and the other wonderful gifts he gives are all the more reason to praise him more.  I want to pray more prayers of thanks and I want to give more time to Him. I want to be more intentional and focused on nurturing my prayer life and my church life. Through this season, I want to give more of my time and energy to Him not only through direct contact, but also by serving and pouring into others through the giving of my time and resources. Sounds ambitious huh?

It is. And it’s easier said than done.

Because this week and next and the one following isn’t going to bring a plethora of free time or extra money or energy. The grind will keep going and each day will bring its challenges, but beyond that, it shouldn’t stop me from giving thanks. God is truly all I need, even in moments when he isn’t all I have.  

I’ve been given so much, and to whom much is given, much is rightfully expected.