Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

The other week at our midweek prayer group, we were talking about the weather.  It seems like we’ve been in a pattern of late afternoon thunderstorms recently and tropical storm Ophelia certainly didn’t change that. But since things have been generally dry, we all agreed that the rain was a good thing, even if it makes for a gloomy day now and then.

But living in farm country up here in beautiful Lancaster County, I’ve noticed that the recent rains aren’t good for everyone.  All the rain is really hindering the harvest. There’s a field across the street from our house that has two or three passes of corn taken down, but the rest has remained standing for over three weeks.  I’m not much of a farmer, but I do know that it needs to be dry to make hay and successfully harvest grain, corn, soybeans, and tobacco. This past Sunday in the church lobby, I was talking with one of our farmers and asked him how the harvest was going.  He said something like, “Slow. We needed the rain and all but I’ve got fields of soybeans to bring in.  After all this rain it will be a mud-bath out there.” So, while the rain is good for some, it’s not always good for everyone. Rain is a good gift, but the timing matters.

Quantity matters too.  I think we’d all agree that sunshine is a good thing.  That flaming ball of fire God placed in the heavens, 93 million miles away provides all the light, heat, food, and energy we need to thrive.  It’s a good gift. And God gave the sun enough fuel to last for the next 5 billion years.

But too much sunshine isn’t good either.  Death Valley receives more than 300 sunny days a year and holds the record for the highest air temperature ever recorded, a scalding 134 degrees Fahrenheit. The intense solar radiation, coupled with less than 2 inches of rain a year makes it one of the most inhospitable places on earth. Not too many people call Death Valley home.  And you certainly can’t grow crops there. Too much of a good thing is not always so good.

So, when we think of God’s good gifts, we need to consider both quantity and timing.

Sometimes, we struggle with quantity.

God blesses us but we want MORE.  We forget that God has promised to provide all our needs (Philippians 4:19), not wants.  And when we confuse the two, we set ourselves up for disappointment.  It’s not that God is stingy, quite to the contrary, he’s undeservedly generous with us.  He owes us nothing, but gives us everything in Christ.

“How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you.” Psalm 31:19

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8

But as Americans, we’ve been conditioned to think that “more is better.”  Our country’s whole economic model is built on consumption and growth.  So, if we aren’t getting or making “more” we feel like we’re losing ground.  Maybe that’s why even as family size shrinks, the average home size has doubled from the 1960’s to today  and 90% of the world’s self-storage rental units are in the US even while we make up only 4.23% of population.  Such is the legacy of “more is better.”

But the Bible says that “godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6). We need to learn the word “enough” and be thankful. More is not always better.  God’s gifts to us are varied and plentiful, but He’s not obligated to supersize them.

We also struggle with timing.

We want things now and struggle to wait on the Lord.  And while God’s blessings are always on time, they’re rarely on our timetable.  God teaches us many valuable lessons through waiting.  In the Old Testament, for 40 years God generously provided manna to feed his people. Every day the manna arrived and they were to collect only what was needed for that day. God was pretty upfront about his purpose in this.

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3

Waiting on God’s timing teaches healthy dependence, and that’s a good thing.  Otherwise, we’re tempted to become self-sufficient and arrogant, either thinking we’re the cause of our own blessings or that we in some way merit what God so generously bestows.

Part of growing in Christ is to recognize that all good gifts come from God and to leave both the quantity and timing of those blessings to our loving Father who is sovereign over all.