Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for the daily challenges.  This week’s topic is part of our series called God Is… where we’re trying to learn about God’s character and nature through some key stories in the Bible.

Our daily challenges are meant to help you explore what it means to follow Jesus, even if you don’t have a lot of time. That’s why we have a rhythm that keeps us in sync, even if we’re not a community that meets together in person regularly. This means every Monday we introduce the week’s idea. Every Tuesday we study it in the Bible. Every Wednesday we see how that challenges and transforms our thinking on the topic. Thursdays we try to apply and live it out. Friday is a day for prayer and reflection before we take a rest on Saturday, and Sundays we meet together with other Christians in community.

Today we’re going to explore God’s provision for us when we don’t feel we have enough.  We can all get obsessive about feeling we don’t have enough.  We think we’ll be safe and secure if we save enough, or buy enough for ourselves, but then find it’s never enough.

A study was done that shows most people believe that they need approximately $8,000-10,000 more a year to live comfortably.  No surprise.  The amazing thing is that no matter how much their income increases, if they are asked the same question again, they still believe they need $8,000-$10,000 more!

All this reveals something about our spiritual health.  It reveals how much trust we’ve put in God to provide for our needs, and how much trust we’ve put in ourselves.  I don’t mean how much you say you trust God, I think our actual expenses, efforts and emotions reveal whether we truly trust God, or ourselves the most.

But there are these amazing times that God transcends all that, and gives us what we don’t deserve, or expect.

This week we’ll explore a story in the Bible where God gave an incredible, timely and surprising gift to his people, even though they were grumbling and hardly deserving of his care.  But first,

Question:  Come up with a list of things it seems like we never have enough of. One example might be time!  Write each idea on a different cup. Then discuss with your partner why you don’t feel you have enough of it, and fill the cup to the level you think you have. For example, if you have very little free time, you might just put a half-inch of water in the “time” cup. Allow time for groups to mark and add water to several cups.  Now fill the cup all the way. As you drink the water, pray that God will replenish you and give you the strength you need in regard to the topic on your cup. If you’re still thirsty when your cup is empty, get a refill! Drink until you’re no longer in want.