“I Will Be.”

There are many layers to what we may feel during the holiday season. With celebration of abundance, harvest, and blessing; what if it feels like our barren places are exposed? What if it's here we recognize fear? We realize somewhere deep in us we are believing that we don’t have enough. What if what we do have; no matter how good it may be, doesn’t feel like enough? The enemy’s lies are subtle: I don’t have enough, I am not enough, or I am less than. What do we do when these thoughts begin to surface?

Sean Gladding writes “God’s intention remains to liberate us from ‘Egypt,’ from the things that keep us in bondage…God not only wanted to get His people out of Egypt, God also wanted to get Egypt out of them-its stories, rooted in fear and greed, power and prestige, idolatry and ideology…That is why we must keep telling the Story of God to each other…” (Book: The Story of God, the Story of Us). 

God is “I AM” which can be translated as “I-Will-Be.” He will always be who He says He will be. God is reliable and consistent. He is good, generous, faithful, and kind. “I AM” is enough. What if His abundance is revealed best in our barren places? He is our daily bread. His generosity is like a river of grace. “Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.” Psalm 42:7 God is enough. In desert, in barrenness, in lack; God is more than enough. 

“But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. When that day comes,” says the LORD, “you will call me ‘my husband’ instead of ‘my master.’” Hosea 2:14-16