Not yet at capacity

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Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. (Ecclesiastes 1:7 NLT)

 If you have ever stopped to just "ponder" something like where all the waters of the streams and rivers flow from or to, you might just observe what King Solomon so poetically described above. Rivers run - toward the sea they make their flow - yet the sea never seems to be "too full" to contain anymore. A pond or river may overflow their banks, becoming filled beyond capacity, but the sea - it never seems to reveal any resistance to be filled time and time again. Is it quite possible that we might just be like the seas? Filled time and time again, yet never truly full.

 What a joy it is to come to the realization of being filled - yet being filled is never the end for us. Filling leads to refilling and I think that leads to the expansion of capacity beyond measure. This is how God's economy works - it is expansive! It goes beyond what we have immediate need of today to be sure we have "in route" what it is we will need for tomorrow. Just as the rivers run to the sea, so God is making provision time and time again, without us even noticing that he has things "in motion". 

 Enoch Powell gives us just a little different perspective on this: "If my ship sails from sight, it doesn't mean my journey ends, it simply means the river bends." There are times when we think our supply has come to an end - because we don't see it coming our direction any longer. It really is an illusion we must overcome, though. The "river" of God's provision never ends - it might bend a little - making us take a different course to realize it is still very much there, but it never ends! Even when it seems to come to a terminal point - it is really just a new starting spot!

 We can never be "full enough" as it comes to God's grace, nor his love. We can never be "unable to contain", for with his provision comes the capacity to contain. This is the difference between us trying to cram more into our lives of our own "doing" versus allowing God to bring into our lives what will only increase our capacity a little bit more. I don't understand how the sea holds the billions and billions of gallons of water it does, nor how it can contain anymore as it comes to its shores. I do know that somehow God brings perfect balance - just as he does in each of our lives. We may not understand how he brings that balance, but we can trust that he will! Just sayin!

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