God is Enough

Because we will be on holidays for a couple weeks this month, and because I’m taking a week of quilt classes in the Rockies also this month, I decided to take a detour from the devotional book I’m using (it is large and heavy to carry) and use something already on my laptop. I ended the year by recognizing and saying that God is enough—and was a bit startled this morning to discover that I have an electronic version of a devotional book by that title.

The first entry for this first day of a new year begins with: “The greatest lesson a soul has to learn is that God, and God alone, is enough for all its needs. This is the lesson that all God’s dealings with us are meant to teach, and this is the crowning discovery of our entire Christian life. GOD IS ENOUGH!”

Oh, but I’m being tested on this. A few days ago I injured my shoulder getting a box down from a high shelf. This week the pain started in the joint and in a couple of days became almost unbearable. Sleep is difficult. Worse yet, using my other arm to compensate is making those muscles sore too. I’m almost afraid to move. How will I do laundry, pack, get ready to go, never mind navigate my luggage through six airports?

My husband is leaving a day ahead of me because our routes differ, even though we will wind up at the same destination. I’m taking a side trip to a 90-year-old relative’s birthday party. All this is going to happen in less than three days.

So I cannot depend on my husband’s muscles. Airlines will supply wheelchairs, but I can walk. Porters sometimes pop up to carry bags in U.S. airports, but not Canadian. My devotional says that God is enough. Do I believe it? Will He somehow provide what I need to do this?

Psalm 62:5-7 says, “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge.”

This new devotional book offers this thought, “No soul can really be at rest until it has given up dependence on everything else and has been forced to depend on the Lord alone. As long as our expectation is from other things, nothing but disappointment awaits us.”

It goes on with a challenge. If God is what He claims to be, if He is what He has revealed Himself to be, then I must come to the strong conviction that He will comfort me, guide me, supply all my needs, give me strength to endure this physical trial, and if He so chooses, even heal the torn muscles and take away my aches and pains. If He does not, He still will be enough.

Sometimes I get annoyed when the only prayer requests I seem to hear are for physical distresses of some kind or another without any mention of spiritual needs. Now I have to decide if that is going to be my prayer request, or if I will go beyond wanting relief to ask God for something else.

No one likes pain. I’m a bit of a sissy myself when it comes to accepting this challenge, yet these verses from Psalm 62 comfort me. As I rest in the thought of God as my hope, I know that whatever happens, I’d rather focus on Him than be counting the minutes until I’m allowed to take the next dose of pain killers.

Regardless of how impossible it seems, I’m going to trust Him to work out the best solution. Also, I’m not going to try and guess what that solution will be or limit Him in any way. I’m putting my extremely aching arms, my whole self including these vacation plans, into His hands. Whatever He decides and does, it will be enough.