Is Jesus Enough When Everything Hurts?

Story 1 of 2

I’ve been alone a lot, and not just from singleness. I had no one to go to. I had no one to talk to. I had no one to do things with.

I wandered around alone. I went on adventures alone. I church shopped alone.

It’s hard being alone. It’s hard going to a new place without knowing anyone. It’s hard when you invite your friends but end up without a single adventure buddy.

The other day, someone asked if God was sufficient.

“No. God is not sufficient,” I said, “Well, he is sufficient, but he never satisfies. Having Jesus and nothing else is like wanting a meal and getting a clif bar.”

Having Jesus and only Jesus is like wandering around in the desert for forty years with nothing to eat but manna. Manna for breakfast. Manna for lunch. Manna for dinner. It was good the first day, but after that it tasted like cardboard. For forty years.

If we ask for quail, we get a plague. If we contemplate returning to Egypt, we get a death in the desert. If we grumble against our leaders, we get poisonous snakes. 

Jesus is our daily bread. He is the thing that sustains us. We get Jesus every day, and he provides the nutrients we need to continue for 24 hours.

And I have seen innumerable miraculous provisions in all my lonely wanderings. 

Jesus is faithful and always provides. And sometimes, Jesus is the only thing we get.

Sometimes when we decide to follow Jesus, things get better. We have joy and freedom and new friends.

And other times we get Jesus and are wrongly imprisoned. Sometimes we get Jesus and cry every month because the excruciating pain reminds us we are still not pregnant. Sometimes we get Jesus and cry every day because we are still single. Sometimes we get Jesus and wonder why he ordained sexual abuse. Sometimes we get Jesus and grieve because God didn’t heal the cancer.

If God works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose, what good could possibly come from this? All we see is the pain. And the pain goes on and on.

But we have Jesus. Is that enough?

Story 2 of 2

Once, there was a God of the universe. He hovered over the waters for days, years, or centuries before time began and thought of his perfect creation, man. He thought of all the wonderful things he would give man. He thought of plants and animals and wind and oceans and planets and stars and changing seasons and harvest and flowers and mysteries and raw materials and immeasurable space to explore.

And then he did it.

He created everything. He created a masterpiece because he loved man and wanted to give him a wonderful gift. He crafted beauty unthought-of and breathed galaxies full of light--all for his crown creation, man. 

And man looked at God and said, “No thanks. I’ll live without you.”

And in that moment, an impassible gulf rose between man and God, and God’s heart broke. His heart broke, not because of the vast indescribable rudeness of being forsaken by the object of his affection, but because he would no longer be able to share life with man.

He wanted to be with us.

We walked away.

So what did God do?

He had every comfort and security. He had all power. He knew all things. He had innumerable servants to supply his every wish. He had strength and authority over legions of mighty warriors. He had entertainment always within grasp. He had subjects who always wanted to be with him. And what did he do?

He left it all behind.

He stepped down from his throne. He played into the enemy’s hand with eyes wide open. He walked away from eternal praise. He walked away from power and affection. He walked away from servants and honor. He went from the God of all power to an unformed embryo in the belly of a woman, one of the very ones who had abandoned him. He gave up knowledge and coordination and understanding and became a baby who knew nothing but the pain of hunger and the touch of a teenage mother.

God looked at us and said, “I want to be with man no matter the cost. I don’t care if they take away my comforts. I don’t care if they pester me and whine about everything. I don’t care if they don’t include me. I don’t care if they mock me. I don’t care if they reject me. I don’t care if they curse me to die alone at the hands of the cruelest nation in human history. It’s worth it. As long as I get to be with man, I will forgo every possible pleasure and comfort imaginable. Man is enough for me, and if that is all I get out of the bargain, I will call myself a winner.”

Jesus looks at each of us and says, “You are enough. If I have to live for the rest of eternity with nothing except for you, that is enough for me. If I wake up every day and you are my only friend, that is enough for me. If I have to go hungry to be with you, if I have to sit in prison to be with you, if I have to face sleepless nights to be with you, if I have to give up ever creating another being to be with you, if I have to pass through every kind of abuse to be with you, if I have to suffer from every disease in human history to be with you, that is enough for me.”

Things to pray for:

Love is a big deal. Please pray that I will be saturated with the love of God. 

I have been stuck in a rut for a long time of not building relationships or looking for opportunities to share the gospel. Please pray for help and direction getting back on track with the Great Commission.