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7.27.2004 Is God Enough? By Wendy Sauers I recently went to an event called Creation 2004. It entails live music, teaching, worship, and more. There is available rock climbing, bungee jumping (of sorts), a music store, a small convenience store, yummy carnival food, and many other vendors. Among the list of speakers were Eastman Curtis, Paul Boloche, Joshua Harris, Luis Palau, David Nasser, Josh McDowell, Ryan Dobson, Mike Silva and more. Famous music groups included Casting Crowns, Audio Adrenaline, Jeremy Camp, Out of Eden, Toby Mac, Steven Curtis Chapman, Delirious, Newsboys, Reliant K, Switchfoot, Kutless, Thousand Foot Krutch and many more. We shared communion one evening and Saturday saw baptisms in a pond. When I say ‘we’, I’m talking about 60,000 – 80,000 people. I have never been anywhere where so many people love their Lord. Singing and praising God in some way started at 9:00am and continued until midnight (give or take 30 minutes.) The main speakers in the evenings spoke so eloquently that thousands of people came to Christ. Among this crowd of people, I saw only 1 person smoking, I heard no profanity, and there were more thank you’s and excuse me’s than I’ve ever heard before. This event was truly a blessing to me in many ways. One of which was that as I stood and worshipped God in song with arms raised in the midst of all the thousands of people, feeling God’s presence so strongly, I thought it surely was the closest I was going to get to knowing what heaven would be like. There are many messages I could share from the Creation event. I’d like to share the message from Joshua Harris titled “Is God Enough? A meditation on Psalm 73.” I won’t write out the entire Psalm, but I would urge you to read it. It is written by Asaph, a leader of a temple choir. Asaph starts the Psalm by saying that surely God is good to the upright. But that he has almost stumbled, he almost slipped away from God. He is envious of the arrogant. And he sees that the wicked prosper. The wicked wear pride like a neckless, they don’t get into trouble, they swell with fatness. Asaph sees others looking up to these people. They are always at ease. They continue to increase in their riches. This is so incredibly relevant in today’s world. As a Christian today it is so easy to make choices that are of the world. Close to my heart are allowing leniency with our children. Wearing risky clothes, dating too young, watching TV shows that are inappropriate, just to name a few. Asaph begins to question himself, thinking that it has been in vain that he has kept a clean heart. Why should he strive to live as God would want him to live when all around him people who don’t care about God are prospering. But then he writes “But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to be a wearisome task,”. He admittedly states that it is wearying or tiring to understand why the wicked prosper and the clean of heart are troubled. He continues, “until I went into the sanctuary of God;”. There it is – the key to it all - until you go into the sanctuary of God. When you commune with God, enter His sanctuary, be one with Him, you know that living with a clean heart is the right way to live. It is the way to bring honor and glory to our King. And when you have been in the sanctuary of God you can emphatically say YES, GOD IS ENOUGH!! He is your all in all, the great I AM. Verse 26 says this: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” The wicked will be judged and will perish, but the clean of heart will live forever. My hope is that this Psalm will encourage you. It certainly encourages me. It is very easy to view the wickedness of this world as the right way to live. Social pressures, peer pressure are most times stronger than our faith. We must remember to live for Jesus all the time, not just some of the time. Another speaker said the following, “we were created once and we were bought once.” God created us in His likeness to be His children and He bought us with the blood of His son, Jesus. We must serve Him, not the riches of this life here on earth. Scriptures "Then He said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” -Luke 9:23 "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.'” -John 8:12 "Do not
fear, for I am with you, Prayer Dear God, Thank You for allowing us, Your created children, to come into Your sanctuary. How awesome it is to be in Your presence! Help us to remember the sacrifice You gave for us and to remember to live for You and not for the riches of this sinful world. Strengthen us daily, hourly, even minute by minute to live for You, to give You glory and honor. We Love You Lord, Amen
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