Embracing Enough is Audacious!

I want to posit an audacious idea. We have enough. “Enough of what?” you ask. According to Scripture, we have all that we need 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. Want proof?

Scarcity Attitudes

Consider our scarcity attitudes that creep into our leadership roles:

• 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 resources to accomplish what God seems to be calling us to do
• We don’t have enough students/participants/clients/members to make our budget
• We don’t have enough reserves to get us through lean times
• We don’t have enough donors/board members/volunteers/staff to achieve our vision for expansion and widening impact

This scarcity lurks in our relationships.

• My marriage lacks sufficient communication, love, and time together.
• My relationship with my kids doesn’t have enough…
• My relationship with my friends doesn’t have enough…
• My relationship with my fellow church members doesn’t have enough…

This is capped off with the gaps in our ultimate relationship. How many of us say we don’t spend enough time in devotions, prayer, and 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.

Your Current Thinking

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

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 light of all that we have just listed, how can David make such a claim? Let’s look more carefully at this amazing verse.

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, lacking anything, made lower, experience need, know scarcity, or have want.

Put positively, because the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall increase, have everything I need, be full, be satisfied, lifted up, 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.”

Proclaiming Powerful 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. Jesus said it this way, “If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:30-34)

• 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, not us, who defines what we need. If we are willing to let God define our needs, we can trust Him to supply them.

• Having enough is a present-tense reality.

I know the Shepherd, and as a result, my needs are met today. The verse says, “I have everything I need”, not that we ‘hope to have’ or ‘might have’ or ‘plan to have’, but God’s provision is a present reality.

• 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, to have my soul restored, to walk through the valley of death without fear, to trust God’s rod and staff and take guidance and discipline with joy, to sit in the presence of my enemies with his anointing and an overflowing cup, to live with hope all the days of my life, 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 needs? For a start:

• It would mean focusing on what God has graciously provided, rather than stressing over what we think we lack, and the result would be thanksgiving and praise.

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

• It would mean we would drive away every fear of tomorrow, having faith that the God who supplied our needs 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.

As steward leaders, we must believe with our heart and lead with our actions the truth, “We have enough.” Let this be the first step on a journey of freedom and transformation as a steward set free to lead.

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 have been translated into over twenty languages, and 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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