One of the dastardly ways the corruption of this world regularly manifests itself in your life is through the accusation, “You are not enough.” This is one of Satan’s greatest weapons, although he rarely says it just like that. In veiled and colored tones you might hear “I should have worked harder for that promotion…” “My son’s struggles in school are a reflection of my failure as a parent…” “No one will ever love me enough to stay with me…” “I am too ugly, fat, skinny, short, tall, lazy, focused…" or even “God can’t truly love me as much as saint so-and-so because I struggle so much with consistency and discipline…”
While it may be true that you need to work a little harder or parent with more attention and grace, it is also likely that you are working hard enough, and that you are a good parent. It’s definitely true - emphatically and objectively true - that God furiously loves you. He says it over and over. He knows you fully and loves you fully. Because of your faith in Jesus, He sees you through Jesus’ perfection, even though you still continue to struggle with sin, discipline and the occasional bad word.
God sees you and stays. It’s important that you know that and remember it. It is the most relevant answer to the accusation “You are not enough.” The tricky part is that the accusation is both true and false at the same time. On your own, apart from God, you are not enough. You are ultimately empty and incomplete. Yet, by faith in Jesus, God has turned that weakness into perfection. That void has been filled with grace and power. And now, in Christ Jesus, you will always be enough. Through Him, you are enough. In every situation. You are more than a conqueror.
That’s a long preface to this simple invitation. I’d like you to read Psalm 116 today. We don’t know the author, but we can tell he was in a very desperate situation, perhaps even close to death. Yet what he celebrates and remembers over and over in this ancient worship song is the fact that God sees him. God hears him. God knows him. God is for him. These are the truths by which he fights “distress and sorrow.” I hope the words of this Psalm become tools and weapons with which you can fight the good fight.
When shame and sin tells you that you are not enough, trust in Jesus and say “return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has death bountifully with me.”
