Never Enough

“Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter,” Isaiah 56:11, KJV

Imagine living in a beautiful home built near many of your favorite attractions. Whether it’s in the busy metropolis or in a quiet area of the suburbs, it is home to you. The foundation is just as you wanted it, the master suite, the corner bedrooms, and the spacious kitchen. Then you go over to a neighbor’s house and see that they have a pool and theater room. Now you want that too.

So, you add on that theater room which never crossed your mind before. And you have that pool installed even though it over extended your budget. You are now satisfied, so you think. Then the neighbors get a brand new outdoor grill that costs a pretty penny. Oh my, you’ve got to have that too because it’s the “in” thing now.

You sit down at your computer, searching for a place where you could buy that new grill and run across an advertisement about starving children. You look away briefly, contemplating whether or not you should donate that money you were going to use on the grill. You find that the yearly cost to feed ten children is less than half of what you want to spend on the grill that you never really wanted. You ponder, but then decide to get the grill anyway. Others will donate for that cause, you say.

Or consider that a new cell phone has just come on the market. You don’t need a new phone, but you’ve got to have it because there are new bells and whistles on it that your old phone does not have. Almost instantly you remember that you just got your phone last month and it works perfectly fine. You didn’t need to upgrade it for work purposes, you didn’t need it for homemaker duties, but because it costs more it must be better. Sadly, you recently deleted a voice message from one of your friends who needs a loan for a water bill due at the end of the week.

There’s always going to be a flashier car, a larger home, a more expensive ring, but does that mean that it’s for you? And then some may ask God, well, why didn’t you give me what I asked for? You said in your word that you would supply all of my needs according to your riches and glory. I imagine God bringing to their attention the nice home, but it was not enough, the theater room, not enough, and the pool that He may not have wanted them to get, but He allowed—still not enough.

Whatever happened to the days before cell phones and gas grills? Whatever happened to the days before computers and HD television sets? It seems as if the more we are given, the more we want. With all of this, it’s still never enough.

“And He said to them, Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness (the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more); for a man's life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing [a]overflowing abundance or that which is [b]over and above his needs.” Luke 12:15, AMP

Additional Reference: Exodus 20:17, Proverbs 27:20