A few years ago, I stumbled across a newly trending catch phrase, that frankly, I wasn’t really sure what to make of at first.
“Girl, You Are Enough!”, it said, or rather, was posted, in a big sisterly sort of way, and was received warmly, and with great enthusiasm by its intended audience, as indicated by the long threads of harmonious feedback. Well intentioned, its purpose was to provide assurance to a nagging question that gnaws at the deep recesses of our psyche: “Am I enough?”
“Girl, you are enough!”, it reassures.
And we exhale, “Oh? Okay…I am?”
With relief, we sigh, “I am.”
“I am! Just the way I am!”, we declare confidently, believingly.
And sometimes, defiantly, with chin held high, and heels dug in, “I AM.”
But in the dark and quiet and alone, when accolades have ceased, and the failures feel like they’re on repeat, and frustration mounts from our lack and limitations…we find that, despite the mantra, the question still looms:
“Am I enough?”
Even as far back as the Garden, Eve felt the sting of the question. And she knew the answer, too.
“NO. I am not enough.”
But she wanted to be. And there, at that very intersection, the Serpent found her, and assured her, she could be enough. And she, with chin held high and heels dug in, decided she would be enough.
(Genesis 3: 4-6) But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate…”
But as Eve would learn, the whole “you will be like God and that will make you enough pitch” was nothing more than a big, fat, lie.
As empowering as “Girl, you are enough!” sounds, it too, is a lie. It’s packaged pretty, and has a feel good, Disneyesque glow to it, but remember? So did the fruit.
“Am I enough?”, can haunt you your whole life, biting in silence and stealth. If we pay attention, God’s voice cuts through the introspective dark with a resounding, “No, but I AM.”
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary tells us that to be enough, we have to possess “such quantity, quality, or scope as to fully meet demands, needs, or expectations.” Who but God alone is capable of such limitless resources? Although my tank may be completely full and overflowing, it can (and does!) run dry. And even when there is abundance of quantity, the quality isn’t always adequate to fully meet the demands, needs and expectations required. I am woefully limited. I am not enough to satisfy myself. I am not enough to satisfy you.
How can I possibly believe I am enough and yet be keenly aware of those in my life that aren’t? I put blinders on, like a horse’s, my vision selective and narrow. I demand that I be accepted as who and what I am, yet express frustration with people who don’t meet my expectations. They are not enough.
No one is enough. No one, except, God.
God is an unending source of all resources, unlimited in scope, quantity, and quality, more than abundantly able to meet every single need. He has no limits. He has no lack. Far beyond being merely enough, He is capable of more than we could ever dare ask, or hope, or dream: “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us..” (Ephesians 6: 20)
When God formed mankind at creation, He declared His creation to be “very good”. But He didn’t create us to be superheroes. He knows the stuff we’re really made of: “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” (Psalms 103:14) And what’s more, He knows exactly what it’s like to be human. Jesus is fully God, but equally, fully man. The book of Hebrews offers us this tender realization: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
We desire assurance and comfort that we are enough because it’s frightening to know and be known as weak. Jesus knows all about this. Not only did He frequently get away to rely on God the Father in prayer during His ministry, in the Garden of Gethsemane, we witness His fully human brokenness and struggle: “And being in agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22: 44)
There is something beautiful, something peaceful in the release and realization of helplessness and brokenness. To freely admit that I have limits. If I know “I can’t”, it frees me from pride, independence, and self-reliance. And being in a state of dependence is exactly where God wants us and God meets us: “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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
When we come face to face with the question that stalks us, frightened and naked and vulnerable:
“Am I enough?”
Let’s not dig in our heels and reach for the fruit of Enough. It never will be.
Reach for Jesus who answers, “I AM.”
