Enough! – An Audacious Idea By R. Scott Rodin

Here’s An Audacious Challenge for You

I want to challenge you to consider a most audacious, even outrageous idea. It’s an idea deeply rooted in the Gospel, yet one we have either conveniently forgotten or intentionally pushed to the periphery of our collective life as the body of Christ.

We Have Enough

Here it is…we have enough. “Enough of what?” you ask. Well, according to Scripture, we have enough to live the abundant life God created for us. While it may sound simple, the enormity of this claim is hard to overstate. We live in a culture of perpetual, merciless scarcity. We are fixated on the gap between what we have and what we believe we need.

The Scarcity Attitude

Want proof? Consider our scarcity attitudes in almost every area of life.

• We don’t have enough time in a day or days in a week to meet the demands put on us
• We don’t have enough finances to feel secure
• We don’t have enough control over the things that impact us the most
• We don’t have enough courage to speak out or take a stand on important issues
• We don’t have enough resources to accomplish what God seems to be calling us to do
• We don’t have enough experiences to make life fulfilling
• We don’t have enough strength to make it through the difficult times we face
• We don’t have enough love for neighbors and enemies as Jesus commanded
• We don’t have enough trust in God to surrender everything to Him
• We don’t have enough stuff to make us happy
• We don’t have enough hope to keep us going when we can’t see the horizon

Scarcity in Organizational Life

The gap grows wider in organizational life. Consider:

• Our church doesn’t have enough finances/staff/volunteers/facilities for us to grow as we’d like
• Our nonprofit doesn’t have enough donors/board members/volunteers/staff to achieve our vision for expansion and widening impact.
• Our business doesn’t have enough clients/cash flow/quality staff/facilities to reach our goals and make the money I want to make

Scarcity in Relationships

Gaps in our ultimate relationship cap this. How many of us say we don’t spend enough time in devotions, prayer, or quiet time with God? And as a result, we lament that we don’t have enough faith, enough knowledge of Scripture, enough trust in God’s provision, or enough confidence in His promises.

Continue the list for yourself. Stop right now and fill in the space, “I live my life believing I don’t have enough _______________.”

Our Response

In the face of this tidal wave of lack and want, we should be stunned by the claim made in the opening verse of perhaps the most popular chapter in all of Scripture. David starts the 23^rd Psalm with these shocking words.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need.”

Audacious! Ridiculous! In the face of all we have just listed, how can David make such a claim? Let’s look more carefully at this amazing verse.

A Closer Look

The Hebrew phrase is אֶחְסָֽר׃  לֹ֣א. The root is ‘chaser’, which is defined as “to lack, need, be lacking, decrease.” Throughout Scripture, it is used to mean become empty (1), decreased (2), deprived (1), empty (1), lack or lacking (9), made lower (1), be in need (1), scarcity (1), want (3), withhold (1).

Sound familiar? These are the taglines for our lists of gaps represented above. Preceding this powerful and descriptive term, David inserts a definitive לא, which negates the word immediately following it. The result is breathtaking. David is saying that because the Lord is our Shepherd, we shall NOT be decreased, deprived, empty, lack anything, made lower, experience need, know scarcity, have want.

Put positively, because the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall increase, have everything I need, be full, be satisfied, lifted, have abundance, be provided for, know no scarcity, be content. This leads to my translation of this verse as, “The Lord is my Shepherd, and in Him, I have everything I need.”

Power in Our Convictions

If this is true (and it is), it must lead us to four powerful convictions.

Having enough requires absolute trust.

I know the Shepherd, and I trust He will provide for all of my needs. In other words, I have enough because God is enough. It is our unequivocal trust in his goodness and love that gives us the peace to make this audacious proclamation. Here’s the flip side. We focus on scarcity and what we lack because we really don’t believe that God is our all-sufficient provider. We believe we don’t have enough because we don’t believe God is enough. Holy contentment rises and falls on our faith and trust in God’s faithfulness and abundant provision.

Having enough reorders our priorities.

I know the Shepherd, and what the Shepherd provides is all I need. That is an interesting and important twist. It says that it is our Shepherd, and NOT US, who defines what we need. If we are willing to let God define our needs, we can trust Him to supply them. Who determines what is enough for you? If you rely on your own standards and measurements, you will find yourself on a treadmill that has no finish line. Put another way, if you do not believe that you have enough today, you never will. Only when our Good Shepherd sets the boundaries do we find contentment in his abundant provision.

Having enough is a present tense reality.

I know the Shepherd, and as a result, my needs today are met. The verse says, “I have everything I need,” not that we ‘hope to have’ or ‘might have’ or ‘plan to have. God’s provision is a present reality. This keeps us from playing the ‘When/then’ game. It goes like this.

• When I make more money, then I will be secure
• When we have more time, then we will pursue a deeper devotional life
• When we get past this current struggle, then we will be at peace
• And the list goes on.

The enemy wants to dangle contentment in front of us, just out of reach, promising that if we work more, make more, buy more, experience more, and achieve more, we will one day grasp it for ourselves. The lie is, we never do. And even if we should grab that carrot, we would find that there is a bigger, sweeter one to take its place. If the Lord is our loving, gracious Shepherd, his provision is enough for us today, right now, as you are reading these words. Do you believe it? Is God really that faithful?

Having enough is a declaration of sacred contentment.

I know the Shepherd, and therefore I am content. I have enough! Enough for what?

• Enough to lay down in peace beside still waters
• Enough to have my soul restored
• Enough to walk through the valley of death without fear
• Enough to trust God’s rod and staff and take guidance and discipline with joy
• Enough to sit in the presence of my enemies with his anointing and an overflowing cup
• Enough to live with hope all the days of my life
• Enough to know whose I am and where my future lies

A Life of Abundance

This Psalm is but one instance of a preponderance of Scripture that calls us to a life of abundance, trust, and contentment. What would it mean for you today if you believed, really believed, that God has supplied all your need?

• It would mean focusing on what we have, not what we think we lack, and the result would be thanksgiving and praise.

• It would mean seeking God’s guidance on how best to steward all that He has given, since we believe it is enough to do the work He called us to do.

• It would mean driving away every fear of tomorrow, having faith that the God who supplied our need today in every area of our life will be faithful to do so again and again as long as He gives us breath and life.
• I urge you this week to keep this one phrase flowing from your lips, “I have enough.” See if it is not the first step on a journey of freedom and transformation as a joyful, faithful steward.

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R. Scott Rodin is the Senior Consultant/Chief Strategy Officer for The Focus Group. Over the past thirty-eight years, Scott Rodin has helped hundreds of organizations enhance their effectiveness in leadership, fundraising, strategic planning, and board development. His books and articles are available in over twenty languages. He has taught and consulted with ministries across five continents. Scott also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Association of Biblical Higher Education and as board chair for ChinaSource.

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Be sure to check out R. Scott Rodin’s brand new release!

Enough: Finding Deep Contentment in an Anxious and Fearful World