When Life Hurts: Is God Really Enough?

“God is enough.”

You’ve heard this countless times. And so have I.

In theory, I know it’s true. But if I'm honest, I don’t always live as if it is true.

When a day is full of detours and setbacks, or my pain escalates again, or I physically crash, or bad new hits broadside, or everything feels like it's been taken away, and nothing seems to be getting better, I want to give up. I doubt God’s goodness. I don't believe He's enough.

Asking myself, “Is God enough for me?” in the midst of seemingly unbearable circumstances is painful. I want to say “yes”, but I also long for things to get better. I want the promise that I can have both.

Ultimately I want life to go my way.

That is incredibly difficult to admit. I think I deserve happiness or things to be easy and carefree. It’s hard to recognize those sinful desires until something I love is taken away and I get angry or bitter. However, having that temporary fulfillment of things going my way only tempts me find joy in my circumstances. Those things I think will make me happy may actually turn my heart away from God.

Habakkuk also had to ask himself the question, "Is God enough?" Things were quite ugly in his life too. There wasn’t even food—talk about a basic need! Everything was falling apart. It wasn't pretty. Yet in His grace, God brought Habakkuk to a place of joy, despite bleak circumstances:

“Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” 3:17-18

In regards to this passage, Matt Chandler comments:

“If Christ is your greatest joy, all circumstances push us towards Him. If He’s not your greatest treasure, then whatever you are ultimately treasuring is at risk of being removed from you. Christ is what can’t be taken from you; everything else can.”

God is working through those miserable circumstances we face today to wean us from our joy in temporary things and find joy in Him. We may not realize that we love God for what He gives us until those things are taken away. It is a tough process, as our idols are unveiled and our desires for comfort, pleasure, success, or whatever else are on display. But it it through this gruesome, refining process that God turns our joy from fleeting pursuits to everlasting joy in Him.

This means that those days full of pain, disappointment, and heartache are the gracious work of God. As we realize how broken and empty the pleasures and happiness of today are, we can find that God really is enough.