I love shoes. All kinds of shoes! Boots. Sandals. Sneakers. High heels. Black, brown, colorful…I love them all!
If you were to look in my closet you would see that I am telling you the truth. You would also see that my love for shoes sometimes causes a bit of a messy situation. I only have two feet! That means that every day I have a lot of shoes that I am not wearing, tossed all over the floor of my closet, just waiting for me to trip over them.
Is there such a thing as having too many pairs of shoes? I would like to say, “No! You can never have too much of a good thing, right?” But you and I know this is not true. Too much candy will make your stomach hurt and, well, too many shoes will make your closet a mess!
Having too much of something or taking more than what you need is called greed. Did you know that when you are greedy, it could mean that you don’t trust God to give you what you need?
This happened to the Israelites in the Bible. God gave the Israelites manna while they were wandering in the desert. Manna was a miracle food from God. God told the people to only take what they needed and to not keep it overnight. He promised to give them more each day. He wanted to teach the Israelites to trust Him. But some of the Israelites did not listen and they took too much. They were being greedy! But the extra manna became rotten with worms and started to stink. They ended up wasting a lot of the delicious food that God had given them because they did not trust Him to give them all that they needed.
Can you think of something that you need and love but that you may have too much of? Maybe it is shoes or toys. Maybe, like the Israelites, you take too many cookies or too much ice cream. God wants you to share what you have and trust Him to provide what you need. He does not want you to depend on anything but Him.
Practice not taking more than you need and trusting God to give you the things you need, when you need them.
Dear God, I have been greedy in the past. Please help me know when I’m not trusting You and selfishly trying to keep as much of something as I can. Thank You for providing everything I need exactly when I need it. In Jesus’s name, amen.