Wow. You exhausted God? How did you do it? What did you say? When did He quit? You seriously learned all there was to learn about John 3:16? You’ve fully mastered the exegesis of Psalm 23? Whoa. That is wild! You exhausted GOD!

Definition of exhaust:

1.drain (someone) of their physical or mental resources; tire out.

2.use up (resources or reserves) completely.

Google Dictionary

Now this is a conversation we would likely never hear aloud, but how many of us think this in our heart? How many of us, myself included have been to a point where you can quote John 3:16 in your sleep in the King James Version, New International Version, and even the Message translations of the Bible? We believe we have a FULL grasp and understanding on EXACTLY what God meant in the verse and that we know all there is to know about all things John 3:16, and if one more preacher tries to throw their “new spin” on it we are going to throw a fit.

This was me in March of 2019. I thought I had exhausted God, or at least a piece of what He said. I was sitting in the most fruitful Bible Study I had been in in life to date at that time, called “Adorning His Bride.” The teacher had us walking through the book of John. Holy Spirit highlighted some attributes about Jesus in John and the assignment was to pick one and get to know Jesus in that way. Haphazardly I selected (in genuine excitement) to learn Jesus as “The Bread of Life.” The passage of scripture was John 6:25-56. It is lengthy, so I recommend you grab your Bible and take a look.

One excerpt that stood out was John 6:26-27, 35:

²⁶ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷ Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” ³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 

Now initially seeing this I was like, “Ok, you are the Bread of Life, cool.” But when I took it slow… (https://refreshhercourse.blog/2019/11/13/take-it-slow/) my heart did something almost naturally that I had long desired that it do! I asked a question! Yes, I asked a question. I asked, “God what did Jesus mean when he said “For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval in verse 27? In Jesus day, did bread have a stamp of approval?” This is when the levy broke! When I researched the phrase, “Bible times, bread, stamp,” or something like it, I learned that when a baker made bread, they had community ovens in town to bake them in. So that a baker knew his bread, he would put a stamp into his bread as it baked and when the loaf was done, his stamp would mark it so everyone knew the bread was his. It proved the authenticity of the loaf, the owner of the loaf, and it would prove the baker’s quality of ingredients, them being what the Baker said they were. MIND BLOWN! Jesus has just unfolded a revelation about His authenticity so deep that I could barely catch my breath!

After this I went to all the related verses to try to wrap my heart around learning that Jesus was the True Bread! I was ecstatic! The next week in Bible study I reported out what Jesus revealed about himself as the others did, and then I was ready to pick the next attribute because I had successfully exhausted God… or so I thought! The teacher then said, “Holy Spirt is instructing me to tell us to stay with the attribute you picked to learn Jesus in and DO NOT MOVE FROM IT.” My heart SANK! I was a knowledge addict and I wanted to get a new attribute. The war in my heart was obvious, because the teacher called me out especially and said she knew it would be hard for me because I thought I exhausted God, but “STAY THERE!”

At home, I surrendered my little heart and repented for thinking I exhausted the inexhaustible God, and crawled into His presence ready to hear. Almost as SOON as I postured my heart to listen, questions came and I asked Him them. In the remaining four weeks time, as I SOUGHT OUT THE HEART of God and not just empty information to add to my knowledge bank, I learned:

• The difference between leavened and unleavened bread
• the process on making unleavened bread
• I MADE unleavened bread and we had it a Bible study one week for communion! It had a WHOLE NEW MEANING
• Songs that I used to love that spoke of Jesus as the Living Bread came alive in a new way in my heart
• scriptures about anything bread from the old testament to the new testament jumped off the pages now
• I learned that bread is a staple food in every culture
• I learned the definitions of bread, yeast, and the like
• I received a prophetic exhortation on Jesus being the Bread of Life for me
• God gave me a song, and I sang it, shared it, and sang it in Bible study for weeks to come, and others were blessed by it (Go JESUS!)

All of this came because I DID NOT exhaust God. If I go back RIGHT NOW to John 6, I am assured that something new and useable would grip my heart and change me. You see sis, the day I stopped thinking I exhausted God was the day I fell deeper in love with Him. And that love is still deepening in my heart and changing the way I live my life. He wants that for you too!

Go back to the attribute, or passage of scripture you thought you exhausted the life out of. Do not move from it unless God tells you to. Stay there. rest your heart there, and allow your heart to take true interest and ASK QUESTIONS. God will faithfully answer them if you want to know HIM.

Here are a few passages I’m SLOWLY revisiting. Maybe they will be a good place for you to start too:

• 1 Peter 1:13-2:3
• 1 Peter 1:3-11
• Galatians 5:16-26
• 1 John 1:5-7

Selah…