Tonight is the eve of Passover, a week long festival celebrating God’s deliverance of the Israelite people from Egypt. It includes an annual Jewish feast where all across the world men and women and children will gather around a table tonight and tomorrow night to tell the story of God’s faithfulness to rescue His people from slavery, to provide for them in the wilderness, to bring them to the promised land and look towards the promise of His faithfulness to come as they enter into this holy week of celebration. It is called the Passover Seder. Seder means “order”. There is a specific order to the telling of the story. That order is included in a little book that is read around the table, called the “Haggadah” which means “the telling”.
Every year for many years now, I have either participated in a Passover Seder, hosted my own, or simply read from the Haggadah in my time with the Lord. The Haggadah I read from is a Messianic one, meaning that as we go through the order of the ceremonial meal, not only do we read from the Old Testament, telling the story of God’s faithfulness to the Israelite people but we connect the different pieces of the Passover meal to their fulfillment in Christ in the New Testament.It is one of my favorite things to do each year, and this week, Kevin and I plan to walk through the telling together in preparation for our celebration as Christians of the resurrection of Jesus. You can find a free one to walk through yourself and learn from here.
It is right after the readings of the coming Passover Lamb, that there is a song that is sung entitled “Dayenu”. It means “It would have been sufficient”, or “it would have been enough”. And so the song is song,
If the Lord had merely rescued us,
but had not judged the Egyptians, dayenu!
If He had only destroyed their gods,
but had not parted the Red Sea, dayenu!
If He had only drowned our enemies,
but had not fed us with manna, dayenu!
If He had only led us through the desert,
but had not given us the Sabbath, dayenu!
If He had only given us the Torah,
but not the land of Israel, dayenu!
There are many more stanza’s but each reflect a pronouncement of the greatness of God’s goodness to the Jewish people, that even just one act of goodness would be enough but in His grace and mercy, He has done so many more.
At the beginning of last year (2016), I was reflecting on this song in light of our story. Is what Christ has done for me enough? Could I say “If you had merely rescued me Lord, it would have been enough” or was His goodness still tied up for me in my circumstances. “If only you had done this”, “If only you would do that…”
I entered 2016 having walked through the loss of two children and with the hope of bringing home a child. So I wrote in January my own “Dayenu” song, testifying if only before the Lord that what He had done in my life thus far was more then enough.
2016… let it be said
“It would have been enough.”If you had only led me to yourself,
And had not used my life.
It would have been enough!If you had only restored my brokenness
And had not poured it out into the lives of others
It would have been enough!If you had only led me overseas
And had not erupted my heart for the world,
It would have been enough!If you had only led me to Orlando
And had not brought Kevin into my life.
It would have been enough!If you had only given Kevin to me in marriage
And had not given us Sophie,
It would have been enough!If you had only given Sophie to us
And had not allowed her to live 10 hours,
It would have been enough!If you had only allowed Sophie’s life to be quiet
And had not multiplied her life to many
It would have been enough!If you had only given us Sophie
and had not given us Dasah,
It would have been enough!If you had only given us 12 hours with Dasah
And had not allowed us to hear her cries or see your glory fill lives,
It would have been enough!If you had only led us to adoption,
And not provided all the resources,
It would have been enough!If you had only led us to speak and share your glory through our story
And not brought healing and hope for future children,
It would have been enough!If you had only shaped our hearts for adoption
And do not allow us to adopt,
It would be enough!If you had only shaped our hearts for adoption
And allow us to bring home a baby tomorrow, this year,
It would be enough!Let this be a year where in the midst of all my hopes and dreams, I can say with confidence “Dayenu”. What you have done has already been enough. You have been enough. You are enough for me today.
I wrote that not knowing that a month later we would bring home our son, a little 4lb 5oz baby who tonight I just put down for a nap, 13 months later after a full day of jabbering away, crawling, standing and cruising around every table within his reach. And just as the Hebrew song is meant to testify of God’s goodness, to tell of all the ways His goodness has stretched over their lives and stories far beyond what they knew they deserved, so His goodness continues to stretch over my life.
Today, as I prepare my heart for Easter, as the cross and the resurrection have become more and more powerful to me over the past 4 years I know that had Jesus only died on the cross, if He had only paid for my sins and conquered death offering me a way to life and had not done ANYTHING else in my life, it would be enough. Somedays I forget that, I forget what God has done and start to think “If only you would do this or that then I would know you are good, then I would trust you”. But I’m reminded as I read what I wrote last year, and as I think of what I would add this year, that He has displayed His goodness to me over and over in life and in death. He didn’t have to do that, He doesn’t have to do that. And yet this is His grace towards me, towards us, towards you.
It is good to remember, it is in remembering that it is so hard to think Him not good. I wonder if you wrote your own “Dayenu” song how God would lift your eyes to His great love and goodness in your life in the midst of whatever painful or joyful circumstance you are walking through right now. Can you today say “Jesus, what you have done for me is enough”.
- A Time to be Silent and a Time to Speak - October 29, 2020
- Teaching Them to Hope, Birthday After Birthday. - January 15, 2020
- A Taste of Hope Fulfilled – Briella Dawn’s Birth Story - August 3, 2018
