Enough.

Friday, January 28, 2011
Enough. Have you ever poured you heart out to God, that He would remove you from a situation that you were in? Have you begged Him, maybe even through tears and sobs, to take away some heartbreak or hurt that you just didn’t think you could handle any longer? Were you heartbroken at the thought that even though you prayed and prayed, your situation and circumstances didn’t seem to change? Did you doubt or question?
It’s been said that “prayer changes things.” That’s so very true, you know. Prayer does change things. Often times, however, it’s not what we have in mind. So often when we are praying for God to change our circumstances, He chooses instead to use our circumstances to change us. Paul knew all about this.
He wrote about a “thorn in his flesh” that he was tired of. He doesn’t tell us what it was, but many scholars believe that it was some type of eye condition – something that hindered his ability to see well. They say this for several reasons, but mainly because elsewhere when he wrote his own letters he mentioned that they were “weighty and large.” His experience meeting Christ on the Road to Damascus involved temporary blindness, which some believe also led to this eye sight issue. Regardless, he had something that made life slightly more difficult and he wanted it gone.
He says he prayed three times for God to remove this hindrance. Yet each time God didn’t take it away. I’ll be the first to tell you that there has never been a more faithful servant of Christ – a more loyal follower of God – than Paul was. He knew what it meant to leave everything he’d known behind to follow Jesus. He endured beatings, prison, stoning, ridicule, and ultimately execution for the cause of Christ. And here he is, asking a simple thing from the God that is able to do this and infinitely more. And God says no. Well, He says more than no, actually.
“My grace is enough. For My power is made perfect in your weakness.” There is it – his answer and explanation all rolled up into one. “My grace is enough.” In other words, “Paul, I want you to depend on Me so we can accomplish bigger things together, instead of you charging out on your own, depending on your own self-sufficiency.” “My power is made perfect in your weakness.” “Paul, when you are weak, I am strongest. When you are down, I will lift you up. When you can’t walk another foot, I’ll carry you the rest of the way. My grace is enough.”
We’ve all faced moments when we felt as though we couldn’t go on unless God intervened. I’ve been in a valley so dark I couldn’t see the light of hope at times. And in that valley I would lay awake, sometimes for entire nights, begging God to jump in and bring back that which my heart longed so deeply for. Yet it didn’t happen. My circumstances didn’t change. My situation stayed the same. But change did come.
He grew me. He taught me how to trust Him in ways I would have never otherwise learned. He taught me that people make choices, but the ones I’m responsible for are my own. And He taught me – no, He demonstrated to me – that His grace was, indeed, enough. I can face anything or anyone now that I know that. And the truth is, His grace isn’t just enough – it’s so much more than enough. He hasn’t filled up my cup – He’s overflowed it.
So today, I challenge you to ask God to help you to see the sufficiency of grace. Ask Him to help you trust Him more, and allow you to see His hand of grace all around you. And when the day is finished and you look back over a few valleys you’ve survived, know that it’s by His grace you made it. And His grace is always more than enough.


That’s just a thought, and I welcome yours.
Until next time,
blake

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