Sufficient Grace

“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”  2 Corinthians 12:9

Simply put, it has been a challenging week—one of those weeks that seems to bear far more difficulty, uncertainty, and grief than you believe you can handle. I know you’ve been there. We all have. Life doesn’t tend to warn us of the storms that will inevitably come, and what I’ve learned is that if I’m not deeply rooted in the truth of God’s Word, I will easily be blown and tossed by the waves. Trials seem to enter my life in the form of a tidal wave at times, and if I’m not careful and intentional to stand firm upon truth, I’m simply no match for the storm.

Several years ago, God spoke the truth of His sufficient grace over my life, or what was left of it. Due to circumstances that were outside of my control coupled with poor choices I had made, what remained of my heart was not much more than a pile of brokenness and a heap of ashes. Still smoldering from the fire, Jesus reached down into those ashes with His healing hand and began to piece back together what had been shattered. As He mended what had been broken and as I learned to cooperate with Him in the process, I experienced His sufficient grace.

Sufficient:  adequate for the intended purpose; enough

Grace: the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God

Choosing to call to mind His faithfulness toward me in my past was the obedience necessary for me these past several days to offer hope in the face of temptation to despair. That is what rehearsing God’s faithfulness will do. It allows us to believe that because God was faithful in our past, He will remain faithful in our present and in our future.

One of the many lies that has deceived so many of us is that Christ is just not enough. From the pits of our pain, we cry out, “This pain is too great. This difficulty is beyond the hope of repair. This relationship is past the point of reconciliation. This despair is too dark.” And God replies with a greater, more powerful word of truth: “My grace is enough.”

In the face of unimaginable shame, grief, sorrow, despair, hopelessness, hurt, anger, and fear, we are daily met with the promise of His sufficient grace. The extent to which we focus on something determines its size in our minds. So we have a choice. We either focus on our circumstance, that which we have little to no power to change, or we focus on the beautiful face of Jesus. The more we focus on our problem, the bigger it becomes and the smaller Jesus seems in our minds. The more we fix our gaze on our Savior, the smaller our obstacle becomes.

I know I needed this reminder today. Did you? The God of all comfort, love, mercy, and truth meets you and me each and every day with His sufficient (enough) grace (favor). Enough favor. Sufficient grace. I pray that you and I can find rest for our souls in that reality today. I pray that we might find the courage, strength, and resolve to proclaim today, “Jesus, you are more than enough.” And as those beautiful words of truth pass over our lips, may they bring healing to our souls.

Jesus, you are all that I need. You are more than enough. Your grace is sufficient for my every need. I run to you. I rest in you.