More Than Enough
By Anthony Casperson
10-18-25

Does anybody else feel like they’ve been waiting a long time for life to go well?

I doubt I’m the only one to feel this way right now. And I’m certain most people reading these words have felt this way sometime in their life. But the fact that we’re not alone doesn’t diminish our tired frustration.

Not even the reminder that others have things worse than we do can end the sighs. Such a rebuke likely leaves us feeling unheard by the insensitive critic. And does nothing to actually help us when we cry out for help in a desperate situation.

Pain, anxiety, and the various other difficulties of life have a way of eroding our patience. We want to quit. Just stop. Run away. Nothing seems to get better, no matter how hard we try. And far too often, our circumstances feel like they’ve gotten worse when we do try.

And sometimes, it feels like even God has abandoned us. We seek him and seem to get no relief. We pray. We dive into the scriptures. We sing praise. But all we seem to get are the reverberations of our words echoing off the walls of an empty room.

It would be easy to give the trite answer of “Just hold on, things will get better.” (Ironically, a song about this very sentiment is playing on my Pandora account right as I’m writing these words. “Things will get better come tomorrow,” are actual lyrics of the song.)

But such promises aren’t guaranteed. In this life, at least. Sure, followers of Jesus will have healing and goodness and a glorious existence after Christ returns. However, in our current problems, such words are just as helpful as the rebukes of those who compare our troubles to others.

The present problems are still there.

These empty promises and comparative rebukes don’t stop our desire to give up right now. And it might just lean us in the direction of hastening that end for ourselves. An unfortunate effect of those words that is easily discounted by those who say them.

Another possible statement we might hear from others when we’re struggling is an actual quote from the bible. “My grace is sufficient for you.” It’s from 2 Corinthians 12:9, where Paul’s reporting a word he’d received from God when he’d repeatedly asked for healing from a “thorn in his flesh.”

I’ve written about the quote before, when speaking about being patient in our suffering, as well. Mostly because those words play repeatedly in my mind during my own tough times.

But recently, something in those words cleared up for me.

I wouldn’t have admitted it before, but there had long been a feeling when I heard this quote from the bible that God was essentially saying, “I’ve given you all the help I can afford.” Or, “I have other, more important things to deal with right now, so you gotta do it on your own with the tiny bit of help I’ve already given you.”

Yet, that’s not what God is saying here. He’s not telling us to take one more step with our own power. Rather, he’s pointing out that the fact that we’re still going—still able to stand, let alone take one more step—is proof of his power already working through us.

If we feel like we should’ve given up long ago, and yet still continue on, it shows the power of God’s grace working in us. Power that’s sufficient for our need.

The Greek word for “sufficient” doesn’t mean that we have all that we’re going to get, and need to ration it out until reinforcements come. If they ever do arrive. Instead, it carries the idea of having enough without needing to worry about it. An ancient use of the word by Homer shows the connotation of being able to ward off an attack. There was more than enough defensive ability to withstand the assault. Otherwise the attack wouldn’t have been warded off.

This means that when God told Paul that his grace was sufficient—and when he speaks the same truth to us—he means that his divine favor is the power that keeps us standing through the difficulty. The fact of the matter is that without God’s strength, we would’ve already been defeated.

His grace is the very thing that allows us to face the difficulties without falling. And this same power is what we use when we take one more step in faith. When we don’t give up and quit, we are already clinging to the power of God’s unyielding help. And we must continue to choose to cling to him through it.

The fact that we have the voice to pray, the desire to search God’s word for truth, and the breath to sing the praise of God, means that God is surely with us. That echo we hear isn’t an empty room, but the reverberation of God working through us in stereo.

For this very reason, Paul continues in the rest of verse 9 and throughout verse 10 saying that this truth will cause him to boast in his weakness all the more. Admitting that we would’ve given up otherwise isn’t a defeat. It’s an announcement that the power of God was more than enough to keep us from that fate. His grace warded away the attack that would’ve defeated us otherwise.

It’s praise sung by standing firm. And a stepping forward. One more time.

We can face weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities with contented fearlessness because we have the overabundant favor of the Creator of the universe with us. He’s the only reason we can still stand.

So, let’s not hear the words of God, “My grace is sufficient,” with the sigh of unhelpful triteness. It’s a reminder that God is with us, proven by the very fact that we’ve yet to surrender to the difficulties. A cry for help isn’t surrender, it’s proof that we’ve yet to give up. It’s our way of seeking wisdom for the direction to take that next step.

If you’re with me in tired frustration of waiting for life to get better, remember that God’s grace is sufficient. His power is more than enough to withstand the trial. And is the only thing that leaves us standing through it all.

Let’s choose to accept that power as we refuse to give up. Prove his powerful favor when we stand without surrendering to the difficulties we face.

And let’s boast in the fact that without God, we would’ve quit long ago. Let’s praise him by speaking to the proof of his grace’s power. His goodness that is more than enough help for us to stand.