For the material they had was sufficient
and more than enough for all the work, to perform it.
Exodus 36:7
I am in recovery from VBS 2013. VBS concluded for me around 3:30pm on Saturday and before 6pm I was home and packed and back in the car with husband and children headed toward South Carolina. My husband said I was asleep before we hit the interstate and I just woke up today around 8:30am.
The chaos of VBS never ceases to hit, no matter how prepared you think you are, no matter how early you get there, there is never enough time…
I carry such a weight concerning the presenting of the Word of God that I prefer to go over a lesson at least a hundred times and especially right before it’s time to teach it… the thought of misteaching the Word of my God and taking His Word out of context and teaching it wrong to ears that are there to hear terrifies me.
So alas, I had great plans to get all VBS prep accomplished and then sneak off to my office, freshen up, and go over my lesson on my face in prayer… but that didn’t happen… not once that whole week as a matter of fact.
That first night of VBS I began my panic attack and my husband saw it coming and just grabbed me and pulled me into himself and held me tight and reminded me that everything would be fine.
Then I made it into the sanctuary to begin our introduction and get the worship music started and then the songs began and as I sang with the children I sang…
“there’s a verse for every season, hide ’em in your heart, put ’em in your brain, pick a verse, learn the words, that’s the way you train… hands in the air now… better be prepared now… the battle is the Lord’s now…”
Right then is when I heard my God say, “Breathe Nicole, my Word is hidden in your heart, you are prepared. Now hands in the air, this is My battle. Either you trust Me or you don’t… did I not say that I would bring to remembrance all that you needed when you needed it?“
So that’s what I did.
I breathed.
I chose to trust.
Then this morning my first verse from the Lord for the day was Exodus 36:7, “For the material they had was sufficient and more than enough for all the work, to perform it.”
We worry about the wrong things so many times. We worry if we have the right crafts, if we picked the right games, if we have enough t-shirts, if the decorations are sufficient, if we will have enough volunteers. We stress when the flagstone bulletin board paper didn’t make it in this shipment after you spent 10 minutes sitting in the parking lot waiting on the doors to open so you could make sure it didn’t get gone on you. We worry if the water-slide is going to work in the parking lot because the water spickets at the grass are all clogged, and good-grief you forgot to make sure there were water hoses…
We worry, we stress, but God promises that the material we have is sufficient and more than enough for all the work, to perform it. It is always sufficient because He is always sufficient.
He is the One who takes five loaves and two fishes and feeds thousands with baskets left over. He is the One says “Peter, I know you have fished all night and caught nothing, but trust Me, just throw your net over to the other side…“
He takes what we have, He takes what we know, He takes where we are, and He performs miracles. That is our God.
So I don’t know if your church has done VBS yet, but if you are still in the prep works, remember to keep the Main Thing the main thing. Remember that Jesus is just flat out amazing all by Himself . And like I said to the poor man at the store who felt so terribly bad that the flagstone bulletin board paper didn’t come, even after digging through all the inventory three times and offering anything else I thought could work for free… the gospel was preached before there was bulletin board paper. Jesus didn’t need it to teach the children to come unto Him… and well we don’t either.
It’s nice to have and all, but Jesus in all His awesomeness is always quite enough.
So breathe… and hands in the air now… the battle is the Lord’s.