Is God’s Grace Sufficient for My Every Need?

Is God’s grace sufficient for my every need? If you’re newly diagnosed or in the deepest valley of your life, that’s a good question to ask. In the eyes of the world, thinking God’s grace is enough to see you through your hardest days seems like a ludicrous concept. But if you’re reading this, then; through God’s grace, you’ve already survived one hundred percent of your hardest days!

The world encourages us to look to the medical community (don’t misunderstand me here), our bank accounts and within ourselves to draw from our inner grit when we’re faced with sickness. But, do we have any inner strength without Christ? No, definitely not! Do we have anything without Christ? No, everything we have comes directly from Him.

But first, let’s talk about grace. What is grace? Grace is “the free, unmerited love and favor of God, the spring and source of all the benefits men receive from him“. We can never earn, deserve or be worthy of God’s grace.

In the Bible, we can read multiple accounts where God met someone’s need. Jesus healed many of their diseases during His time on earth. He healed the blind, those who were lame, lepers, the man with the withered hand, the deaf, and more with various diseases. Jesus cast out demons thereby meeting spiritual needs. He provided miraculously for those who needed food and had other financial needs. Jesus is still on the job and He’s still working on our behalf! Let’s look at some specific examples of how God’s grace was sufficient.

The Apostle Paul: Was God’s grace sufficient for him?

2 Corinthians 12: 7-9 says, “7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

In this scripture the apostle Paul had asked the Lord, for the third time, to remove his “thorn” in the flesh. We can only speculate what Paul’s “thorn” was because the Bible doesn’t specifically name it. Was Paul’s “thorn” a bodily pain or infirmity, a mental illness such as depression or a fleshly weakness or temptation? There’s many theories on this topic. No one knows for sure. Since that information is unknown, it makes the apostle Paul and his suffering more relatable to all of us who are living with something like chronic pain, sickness, depression or something else entirely.

Jesus’s reply to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12: 9 was “My grace is sufficient for thee…” meaning His grace was enough for Paul’s need. “Sufficient” defined by the 1828 Webster’s dictionary means “enough; qualified; competent; possessing adequate talents or accomplishments; fit; able; of competent power or ability”. “Sufficient” is quite a powerful word when you look at the definition. Yet, Jesus Himself used the word “sufficient” to describe His grace to Paul. If your Bible has the words of Christ in red, you can go see for yourself!

Jesus tells Paul His grace will be “enough; fit; able; of competent power or ability” for his need. Jesus hasn’t changed! He’s the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13: 8).

Job: Is God’s grace sufficient when we lose everything?

Let’s look at another example of how God’s grace sustained man’s every need in the midst of devastation. Think about Job. In the course of one day, Job lost all ten of his children, seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred oxen, five hundred donkeys and his servants.

As if that wasn’t enough, Job then developed sore boils from the “sole of his foot unto his crown”. After that happened, his wife said he should just curse God and die. But, Job would not. In the midst of his heartbreak and sorrow, Job refused to sin. Job still wouldn’t budge after his so-called friends came. They blamed and accused Job of sin because of the lot that had fallen to him. Still, Job refused to curse God.

Job was in a deep pit of despair after suffering such a tremendous loss. As Job sat in ashes and used a piece of potsherd to scrape his boils, he cursed the day he was born. Even in the midst of that despair, Job refused to curse God.

How did Job’s story end? The Lord rewarded Job’s faithfulness. In Job 42:10, we read “the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before”. Yes, Job went through something unimaginable. But, the Lord restored back to Job what he lost and more. Now, that’s grace.

Elijah: What about spiritual needs?

Consider Elijah. He was on the run from Jezebel who wanted him dead. Elijah became discouraged. He went deep into the wilderness and sat down under a juniper tree. While there, Elijah had a pity party and asked the Lord to let him die. An angel of the Lord visited Elijah twice while he was under the juniper tree.

While Elijah was napping, the angel baked a cake and had a cruse of water ready for him to eat and drink. Then, Elijah laid down to sleep some more and the angel of the Lord came and touched Elijah again encouraging him to “Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.” Elijah was able to go in the strength of that meal forty days and forty nights.

When he reached a cave at Mount Horeb, or Sinai, God revealed His presence to Elijah in a still small voice. Elijah made his petition before the Lord that he wished to die because he felt he was the last one left serving Him. The Lord set Elijah straight that day and sent him to find Elisha who would begin walking with Elijah in the journey.

God, in His grace, provided physical nourishment for Elijah. God also provided spiritual support through His encounter with Elijah when He spoke in the still, small voice. He further supported and provided for Elijah’s need by sending him to Elisha to help him. All acts of grace.

Sufficient: To say the least

Is God’s grace truly sufficient for my every need? Yes, it is! It was sufficient for Paul, Job, Elijah and countless others all through the Bible. Open God’s word; it’s packed full of accounts that God’s grace is sufficient for every need.

As I think back to some of the hardest times in my journey with chronic pain/illness so far and even when I couldn’t see it, God’s grace was enough for my needs. It’s His grace that has sustained me and it’s His grace that will continue to sustain me.

God’s grace not only sustains me; but, also enables me. His grace enables me each day in different ways. The moments it’s hard to put one foot in front of the other, He enables me to keep going and to keep shining my light for Him. Is God’s grace sufficient? Yes, to say the least. Has His grace been sufficient for you?