And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Do you ever feel like you are not enough? 

It is so easy in our world now to feel inadequate. Scroll on your phone and there is someone doing what you can but seemingly better. Watch the TV and there is someone who seemingly had more time to give than you did. It is so easy to compare and consequently feel like one is simply not enough.

I really like the story of Gideon. I can really relate with feeling “less than”. Oftentimes, when we think of the heroes of the Bible, it is easy to think that they were all strong, courageous warriors who had all the faith and all the hope, and that is why God chose them. Esther must have just been born courageous. David must have just been born devoted. Mary must have just been born faithful. Joshua must have just been born a leader. 

However, that is not really what many of the lives of these people show. There were people who were chosen from birth (Samson and John the Baptist, for example) but there were many people in the Bible who expressed real feelings of inadequacy. The people that we call heroes in the Bible were still…people, and sometimes people feel inadequate. 

Gideon in the Bible was a man who said himself that he came from the smallest clan and was the smallest of them all (Judges 6:15). He made this admission after an angel had called Gideon a mighty man of valor (Judges 6:12). Can you see that? A literal messenger of God called Gideon a mighty man and Gideon soon after denied it! Don’t we often do the same thing? Isn’t it easy to ignore what God says about us when we look introspectively for sufficiency? Gideon may not have seen himself as a mighty man, but the Lord knew that was true. 

You need to see yourself as God sees you, and accept the truth that He says about you.

Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” Judges 6:14

You see, no matter what you may feel or others may say, if the Lord has called you and sent you, then you have what you need because He is with you. You have strength and skills that others do not because God has prepared good works for you and equipped you to do them in the way that only you can (Ephesians 2:10). Looking sideways will make you look down on all the special things God has put within you, so look up. Look to God because He enables us so excel with what we have. Go in that might because God with you will multiply it and make it more than enough. 

When David was about to fight Goliath, King Saul gave David his armour that did not fit David. So David took it off and used what I would imagine would have been much more readily available to a shepherd boy: a slingshot and some stones (1 Samuel 17:38-40). With that, he defeated Goliath to the glory of God (1 Samuel 17:50). 

You don’t need what others have to do what God has called you to. God’s Holy Spirit lives in you just like it lives in all of His Children (Romans 8:8-11; 14-15). Some people have strengths that you do not have, that is true (Ephesians 4:7), but to the glory of the Lord, the diversity of strengths within His Church makes it beautiful (1 Corinthians 12:4-12). 

Let your heart accept the truth that because God is with you, you will lack nothing that you need (Psalm 23:1). Every single one of your needs is known by God so do not think that you are insufficient. Christ is our sufficiency (2 Corinthians 3:5). He is the One that makes us enough; God is enough. He is strong enough. He is courageous enough. He is great enough. He is big enough. And because His Spirit lives in us, He gives us more than enough to be who we are and do what we need to do. Go in the strength that you have, and allow God to fill you up so that you will have more than enough. 

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Ephesians 3:20

With love, 

Faith