Why Should God’s Grace Be Enough?

It was the eleventh hour and we needed to hear something back on our new home mortgage. I began to question what I heard about the house we selected. Bathed in prayer, I was overcome with emotion while sitting in the living room of the new house. I felt that was the Holy Spirit confirming this was the place we were supposed to move. I had a vision of hosting a small group Bible study in the family room.

 

As time slipped away, the negative self-talk crept in: “How am I ever going to know if God is speaking to me if I interpreted this wrong?” Then  the tears began to flow, and I became unsure of God’s love for me. Why would he allow us to make it this far, then take it away? That’s when I heard, “Lisa, is my grace not enough?” I was reminded of the sacrifice his Son, Jesus, made for me on the cross. Did I need anything more than that?  I had to respond, “Yes, your grace is enough. Even if we don’t secure this house. Even if we don’t have a place to go, Lord, your grace is enough.”

Every once and a while, God asks all of us, “Is my grace enough?”

He allows us to go to the brink of despair.

There may be a situation out of our control.

We think he’s not acting fast enough and we cry out, “Where are you God?

He wants to see if we’ll stick with him in the hard times, but he also wants to know if his gift of eternal life is sufficient, above all things, material and physical.

The Apostle Paul had a “thorn in his flesh,” most likely some kind of physical illness.  He asked God several times to remove it, but God refused. Scripture doesn’t show it, but you wonder if Paul also questioned God’s love for him. After all, his life, many times endangered because of his bold faith, was now devoted to his service. Why wouldn’t God do this one thing for him, out of gratitude?

That’s when Paul hears, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).  Convicted, Paul then said, “That’s why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Yep, that about covers every difficulty life can throw at us.

What about you? Is God’s grace sufficient? If everything was taken away from you tomorrow, would your eternal security be enough?

Sometimes our Father in Heaven just wants to know if we’re willing to give it all up for him.

It wasn’t long after I surrendered the house, and confessed God’s grace is enough, that our mortgage was approved. There are still a few more steps, but it was a big hurdle to cross. Maybe my discernment was not wrong after all. God just needed to know the house was not more important than the sacrifice he made for me on the cross.

What is God asking you to surrender?

We have to remember to hold onto the things on Earth loosely, because they are temporal. God’s grace is eternal.