“We don’t have enough.” This, I’m afraid, is how most of us think. I know it’s the direction my mind most naturally goes. We don’t have enough …
People. Resources. Volunteers. Opportunities. Square footage. Experience. Expertise. Influence.
… therefore it won’t work. And if it does work, it’s easy for us mere mortals to take the credit because somehow we made it work.
But God doesn’t think like us. In fact, at the very moment we’re saying, “We don’t have enough,” he very well may be saying, “You have too many.”
Israel faced impossible odds in the days of Gideon. The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East had encamped against them “like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance” (Judges 7:12).
So the LORD said to Gideon,
“The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.'” (Judges 7:2)
So God whittles Gideon’s army down from 32,000 to 10,000 to 300.
And the LORD said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand.” (Judges 7:7)
Did you catch that? I will save you. I will give the horde into your hand. And when I do, Israel will have no reason to boast, “My own hand has saved me.”
The Bible is full of the testimonies…
- “We’re not enough.” But God is.
- “I’m not strong enough.” But God is.
- “I’m not good enough.” But God is.
- “I don’t know enough.” But God does.
Maybe, while we’re lamenting the fact that “We don’t have enough” in hearts that are far too eager to draw attention to and boast in ourselves, God is saying, “You have too many,” and waiting for us to practice what we preach.