But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
“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.
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.”
Hannah Whitall Smith in God is Enough: Selections from Published & Unpublished Devotional Writings by Hannah Whitall Smith, ed. Melvin and Hallie Dieter (2003) excerpt from January 1 devotional.
After teaching in Phoenix I went to dinner with my niece, Jamie, then visited her husband in the tower at Luke Air Force Base where he serves as an air traffic controller. Cool to see him at work! Now I am having coffee this morning in their home on base.
What a treat to be with them and to see how they are learning that God is enough. They have Him, each other, and a cute little dog named “Archie!” Time has flown by since I officiated their wedding in July 2014.
Learning that “God is enough” is what Lent is all about: unlearning the ways of the flesh and disciplining ourselves to attune to what God is trying to teach us. Why mention this today? Until we grasp this, we will never exhibit Christian generosity.
Desire this, but not there yet? Read today’s verse again and pray this prayer: Father in Heaven, thank you for your grace, which is sufficient. It’s enough for me. Perfect your power in my weakness, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.