LEFTOVERS
Are They Being Wasted?
~ He is the God Who salvages all things and allows nothing to go to waste ~
January 11th, 2023
the TENACIOUSNESS of GOD
Psalm 46:10, “Cease striving and know that I am God.” (NASB)
Oswald Chambers shares with us in My Utmost for His Highest, February 22nd, “Tenacity is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with the absolute certainty that what we are looking for is going to transpire. Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off.”
I asked the Lord to show me His word for me for this year, and you know, it didn’t come right away. It didn’t come before the year began. It didn’t come the first day of 2023. It actually didn’t get downloaded to me until nearly a full week had passed. Then I heard Him remind me what I already knew, and I knew immediately in that moment, that is what He wants me to reflect on this year, to understand deeper about Him this year, and to plant and grow in my own garden more this year than ever before: the tenacity of God.
I was reminded while I sat alone with Him how tenacious He is toward me. How steadfast is His love for me, His grace on my behalf; how enduring is His presence in the middle of the storm and the isolation of this life; His stick-to-it-tiveness for my victory and His vast belief in me; how overwhelming is His pursuit for my heart even when I have pricked it with the things of this world and bled out on the altar of temporal satisfaction. The tenacity of God is beyond human comprehension or ability to replicate. YET He still believes in me that I can, that I am able, that I will. That is the tenaciousness of Holy God.
We walk through the Bible, and at every bend in the road, every turn of the page, every comma, we read “BUT GOD”. That is the tenaciousness of God. From the huddled couple hidden behind shame stitched with love and fig leaves, to the ram climbing out of the brush while God lifts a son from an altar, handing him back to an obedient father, to a people journeying on dry ground next to a wall of water, to demon-plagued men being set free and prisoners no longer captive, blind seeing, lame walking and the stained no longer blemished, to a man stretching out His arms to redeem you and me. That is the tenaciousness of God.
All of the yuck, the filth, the leftovers of my life, the spoilage and waste, put to good use, purposed for profit, for benefit, turned over in the hands of God from harm to gain, all of it, nothing wasted. Now that is the tenaciousness of God.
John 6:12-13, ‘When the people had eaten their fill, He said to His disciples, “Gather the LEFTOVERS so nothing is wasted.” They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with LEFTOVERS from the barley loaves.’ (MSG)
