There is Enough!

After our small group tonight, I noticed a new book on the shelf of our small group leader (Jeff). It was Volume 2 of The Works of Thomas Brooks. I think he bought it because I had quoted from it. Seeing it reminded me of a certain part of the book that meant so much to me several years ago.

This particular paragraph came from a small book written by Brooks called An Ark for All God’s Noahs In a Gloomy Stormy Day or The Best Wine Reserved Till Last or The Transcendent Excellency of a Believer’s Portion Above All Earthly Portions Whatsoever. (The Puritans even had long titles for their books!)

It was essentially an extended meditation on Lamentations 3:24: "'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.'" The whole book was written to demonstrate that God is a better portion - a better inheritance - than anything this earth can afford.

Brooks showed that God is a:

Present
Immense
All-sufficient
Absolute,
Needful, and necessary
Pure and universal
Glorious, happy, and blessed
Peculiar
Universal,
Safe and secure
Suitable
Incomprehensible
Inexhaustible
Soul-satisfying
Permanent,
Indefinite, never-failing, everlasting
Incomparable Portion![1]

When I read this book back in the 90s, I saw not only that I should be satisfied in God, but that I could be satisfied in God! One paragraph of his book struck me with tremendous force and gave me incredible joy. Here it is.

“Certainly, if there be enough in God to satisfy the spirits of just men made perfect, whose capacities are far greater than ours; and if there be enough in God to satisfy the angels, whose capacities are far above theirs; if there be enough in God to satisfy Jesus Christ, whose capacity is unconceivable and unexpressable; yea, if there be enough in God to satisfy himself, then certainly there must needs be in God enough to satisfy the souls of His people. If all fullness, and all goodness, and infiniteness will satisfy the soul, then God will. There is nothing beyond God imaginable; and therefore the soul that enjoys him, cannot but be satisfied with him. God is a portion beyond all imagination, all expectation, all apprehension, and all comparison; and therefore he that hath him cannot but sit down and say, I have enough.”[2]

[1] Thomas Brooks, The Works of Thomas Brooks (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, Reprint) Volume 2, p. v
[2] Brooks, p. 32-33