“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 NIV
God’s grace is sufficient for me. What does the word sufficient mean? That is what I found myself asking when I recently read this verse. Sufficient seems sort of…well, sufficient. It’s definitely not abundant. For me, the word sufficient out of context felt frugal and miserly. Sufficiency is not overwhelming. So, as I am often wont to do, I turned to Miriam Webster online to find the definition of sufficient. Sufficient: enough to meet the needs of a situation or a proposed end. That definition I found wholly unreassuring; it didn’t engender confidence in me. So, I continued reading. Further down on the page was this phrase: SUFFICIENT suggests a close meeting of a need. A close meeting of a need. This would imply that the need was met and it was narrowly met by what the situation required. Aha! Now I was getting somewhere! In other words, enough grace is given to us daily to meet our need for that day; nothing more and certainly not less.
This made me think of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, complaining of hunger, and how God provided them with manna to eat. They had a need that was narrowly but completely met. There was enough sustenance for one day. Each day they had to rely upon the Lord to provide that day’s bread.
This manna and its delivery are a beautiful metaphor of our daily bread that we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer. I like to think of daily bread as not only physical resources such as food and shelter but also emotional and spiritual resources: the grace that God supplies. When we ask, we don’t get more than what we need for that day, time or season. The concept of daily bread is that we must return to our dear Father every day to ask for and receive it. Much like the manna which spoiled when the Israelites tried to save it, any extra daily bread or daily grace will not be helpful to us. That can be a difficult concept for me to understand because I feel like more is always better. I get this message from my Pennsylvania Dutch heritage that prompts me to serve 7 sweet dishes and 7 sour dishes when I host a holiday meal; advertisers tell me I need to buy more; the world tells me that I need to be more; my sinful pride tells me I need to accomplish more. But God’s grace is sufficient. What He gives me for this time is what I need for this time.
Saint Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12 that we see things dimly now as through a mirror but someday we will see with perfect clarity; we will be fully known and fully know. I think that’s how it is with the concept of daily bread and daily grace. The difficulty is knowing how we will make it through a situation or season in life that we are facing. It is hard to see the end of this pandemic that has affected every aspect of our lives. It can be impossible to imagine an end to division, strife and inequality in our world. We try to see, but our vision is as one looking into a dark and dim antique mirror.
But, His grace is sufficient. Additional research in Thayer’s Greek Lexicon brought this to light:
“my grace is sufficient for thee, namely, to enable thee to bear the evil (wo)manfully; there is, therefore, no reason why thou shouldst ask for its removal.”
Ouch! Okay, God! So we don’t need to ask you to take these situations away because your daily grace is sufficient for us to bear sickness, hatred, division, injustice, poverty, strife and disease?
Yes.
Our weakness as human beings is that we cannot truly live apart from God. Just like the wandering Israelites who went out each morning to gather the manna that God had provided overnight, we must return to Him daily for what we need. Receiving His grace allows His power to be perfected in our weakness. What a beautiful plan this is! It shows us over and again that when we ask for our daily portion of grace, He supplies it. This continual supply of sufficient grace builds our trust in Him. Trust enables us to rely on Him again and again, because He always supplies our needs.
Someday, we will look back on this time in our lives and see clearly the grace of God covering all that has transpired. “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 NIV
Heavenly Father God,
Thank you for the perfect plan of reliance upon you and for perfecting your power in our weakness. We beseech you to supply your grace to us, our families, our communities, our country and our world. Lord, we are yours. These are your families, your communities, your country and your world. God, may your kingdom come and your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. May we have the humility to return to you daily to receive sufficient grace to do your Kingdom work.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen
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Sarah Flowers lives in idyllic Chadds Ford, where she is steeped in beauty and connection to the land and its history. She loves coffee and flowers and getting to know Jesus. A lifelong learner, she seeks to follow God’s plan to bring justice to the under-resourced. Sarah is a self-declared serial optimist and melodiphile; there’s always a path to the sunny side and a soundtrack for the journey! She is a mom and wife and a grateful alumna of Northwood University. Her former iterations include automotive professional and shoe diva.
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