When Did God Overspend?

Bringing a spiritual perspective to daily life

Do you ever find yourself thinking that you don't have enough of something? I got out of bed one morning recently, feeling annoyed that I had to be up so early and actually fearing that I hadn't had enough sleep. I was concerned that I would be tired all day.

Then I began to remember all the areas of my life in which at one time or another I'd felt a lack of something: money, companionship, health, opportunity to use my talents, time, happiness, to name a few. It even occurred to me that overeating, overspending, gambling, and too much recreation are perhaps attempts to "get it all" now - in case there's not enough tomorrow. I've heard the observation made that all the world's problems really stem from a lack of one thing or another.

While thinking about these things in the early morning hours, I found it was comforting, reassuring, for me to realize something anew: God, our Father-Mother, is affluent - in fact, All-in-all. God is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-acting, all-supplying. He has all and provides all. God cannot be depleted, because He is infinite, absolutely without limits.

You and I have been given the glorious privilege of perfectly reflecting our creator; we, as His spiritual expression, have all we could ever need. Using as other names for God Spirit, Love, and Mind, the Christian Science textbook portrays God's promise to us: "I am Spirit. Man, whose senses are spiritual, is my likeness. He reflects the infinite understanding, for I am Infinity.... I include and impart all bliss, for I am Love.... I am supreme and give all, for I am Mind. I am the substance of all, because I AM THAT I AM" (Mary Baker Eddy, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Pgs. 252-253).

Somehow, sleep seemed less important to me after these truths sank in. And I felt that as God's very likeness, the direct reflection of God, I had an inexhaustible supply of all that was good. God is good itself. This meant I simply could not be spent, tired, craving rest, in want of anything good during this unfolding day. And, indeed, I felt rested.

You are always in line to receive what you need from God, since He is always with you. He is your supply. Can you deplete, lose, not have enough of, God? No. Neither can you lose or have too little of God's emanation. The constancy of divine Love and Love's expression is indeed an ever-present, spiritual fact.

Again in the words of Science and Health, "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need" (Pg. 494). Note, it's not just most of our needs, or selected needs, or needs we remember to ask God to meet, but every human need. The need may be supplied in the form of a creative idea, or it may be in an impulsion to utilize our infinite supply of good by giving of our talents or time. But whatever way it comes, what we need will be there, and we will recognize it as evidence of God's good.

If you ever doubt this, it might be helpful to discover all the Bible passages that stress God's unlimited, affluent nature. We're told His thoughts are numberless, and that's the answer to lack of inspiration (see Ps. 139:17, 18). The book of Nehemiah says His mercies are "manifold," which should assure us we can't be deficient either in receiving or giving affection or kindness (9:19). According to Ephesians, God's blessings are "spiritual," so no matter what our circumstance, we need not feel deprived (1:3). Indeed, Psalms says, God is "the most high over all the earth" (83:18). And the much-loved 23rd Psalm starts right out assuring, in harmony with all of the above, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."

We can apply these truths to literally any fear of lacking or losing. We certainly can't be without companionship when God is Love, or without happiness when He pours out the joy of salvation, or even without sufficient sleep when we take the cue to "rest in the Lord" (see Ps. 37:7). And when did God overspend? Never, for God's affluence, and thus our riches, are absolutely infinite!

Let's rejoice in the truth that there is enough of every good thing for every one of God's blessed children. Daily, hourly, always, God offers us the reassurance found in one of Jesus Christ's well-known parables: "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine" (Luke 15:31).