My Grace Is All You Need

My Grace Is All You Need

To keep me from getting puffed up, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from getting proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” –2 Corinthians 12:7-9

There was a time in my life when I read God’s response to Paul in this passage as a dismissive pat on the head. Perhaps because I’d so cheapened the significance of God’s grace. Perhaps because I’d heard similar words spoken in a tone that seemed to dismiss the suffering this promise is applied to. Or perhaps I had not believed that God’s grace is up to the task of addressing some of the suffering I see around me.

Why does the sentiment, “God is enough” or “Jesus is the answer” ring so hollow to my modern ears? I said it a couple of weeks ago to a woman whose body is being ravaged by ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) even as she endures the taunts of a cruel husband and the despair of a daughter who has begun cutting herself. I apologized as I said it, knowing it might sound simplistic in the face of such suffering. But deep in my soul I know it is true, and it is not at all simplistic.

Because I choose to believe God’s Word and because I have experienced it in my own life, I thoroughly believe that the grace God provides is all you need—it is enough—for whatever you face. It will be delivered to you in the form and quantity and timing your circumstances require. It is enough to enable you to endure rejection and betrayal without becoming bitter. It is enough to generate joy in the midst of great sorrow. It is enough to help you endure the loneliness of your bed and the reminders of loss everywhere you turn. It is enough to enable you to continue believing that God is good and he loves you.

The grace God provides to you is enough for whatever suffering he allows into your life, not just enough to survive but enough to equip you to emerge from your suffering with faith intact and hope for the future. What God said to Paul he also says to you: “My gracious favor is all you need” today and for everything you will face in the days to come (2 Corinthians 12:9).

My Grace Provider, even though I admit I’d rather you just take away this pain in my life, I hear you whisper to me that the grace you will provide for me to endure and emerge from this hurt will be all that I need. I believe.

DIGGING DEEPER