God is My Lover—He is Enough

Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – February 14, 2017

By Shana Schutte

As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. Isaiah 62:5

I married late in life. Late as in several of my high school classmates were already grandparents. Late as in I had been coloring my hair for ten years, and late as in I had just found my first grey eyebrow hair. Yep! It was late.

Right after my engagement, I felt stretched beyond my comfort zone as I prepared to transition from being Shana the single, Shana the writer, and Shana with the family from southern Idaho to Shana the wife and stepmom to five fabulous grown children and two sons-in-law.

Now, two years after saying “I do” there are still some days when I feel stretched beyond my comfort zone, days when I am forced to press into Christ out of desperation. At these times, I need to experience His sufficiency. I need Him to be my Enough. 

I have needed Him to be my Enough as I have wrestled with the normal insecurities that come with becoming a part of a blended family. I have needed Him to be my Enough as I have moved from “I still show up to family holiday gatherings without bringing a dish since I am unmarried” to “I am the Thanksgiving chef in this family” even though—up until the time my husband and I tied the knot—I had never made a turkey, or even purchased a can of cranberry sauce. In so many ways I have needed Him to be my Enough.  

“But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled]. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8, AMP).

But the need to experience Christ’s sufficiency hasn’t just been a marriage thing. It’s been a life thing. I also needed Him to be my Enough during my single days when I was alone and lonely. I needed Him to be my Enough as I prayed through tear-filled nights, friendship failures, ruined romances, money messes, and dashed dreams. In fact, there hasn’t been a moment in my entire life when I haven’t needed Him. I have always needed Him to be my sufficiency, and I am so grateful that He always has been—even during those times when I thought He wasn’t.

I don’t share my story because it’s all that interesting or unusual. Rather, I share it because it’s so typical. It’s so typical of God to be so good because He is goodness. It’s so typical of Him to be so loving because He is love. It’s so typical of Him to be so faithful in demonstrating His sufficiency, because that’s what He is. He is our Sufficiency.

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). His love never fails (Psalm 136). He is always Enough. You may feel as if God can’t possibly be your Enough because you are in a very difficult place on your journey. Maybe you are unhappily single, unhappily married, or unhappily divorced. You are shy, unemployed, or in a financial fix. You feel rejected, unwanted, overlooked, unseen, unimportant, or like you are without purpose. Let me encourage you: Jesus is Enough for anything you are experiencing. He wants to be your sufficiency and He died on the cross to prove it.

Since He has given us such a great and precious gift, won’t He also give us all things? I pray that you will also come to know that He is your Enough too, no matter what you are going through. Grow complete in God’s love.

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32)?

 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, grow my heart so all I have is room for You as my Enough.

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Application

Write a letter from God Your Lover—describe how He feels about you.

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Related Reading

Psalm 45:11; Song of Songs 3:11; Zephaniah 3:17; John 14:21-23 Today’s reading is taken from Shana and Boyd’s just released book, Two Minutes in the Bible for Women

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Post/Tweet today

God is our Enough no matter what we are going through. #wisdomhunters #lovedwell

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Worship Resource

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