Finding Strength When You Don’t Have Enough
We all face moments in life when we simply don’t have enough—not enough strength, provision, love, time, or forgiveness. These moments of insufficiency can leave us feeling overwhelmed and helpless. But there’s a powerful principle that can transform our perspective: whatever you have, whatever you’re lacking, give it to God.
What Does Jesus Do When Facing Sorrow?
When Jesus heard about John the Baptist’s death, his response teaches us a crucial lesson. Matthew 14:13 tells us, “When Jesus heard it, he departed from there by boat to a deserted place by himself.” Jesus gave his sorrows to God.
This wasn’t a one-time occurrence. Throughout scripture, we see that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16). Before major decisions, challenges, or miracles, Jesus would get away to pray. Why? Because he received something valuable from these prayer times.
Jesus’ prayer time wasn’t passive but active and intentional. After praying, he always emerged:
- Refreshed
- Refocused
- Submitted to God’s will
- Empowered for ministry
When Jesus returned from prayer after hearing about John’s death, he saw the multitudes and “was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14). His time with God had restored him.
How Should We Pray Like Jesus?
Relational vs. Transactional Prayer
The key difference in Jesus’ prayer life was that his prayers were relational with God, not just transactional. Most of us pray to God, telling Him what we want, rather than praying with God in relationship.
Jesus approached prayer as a conversation with His Father. He would talk to the Father, seeking His perspective and desires. This relational approach then led to transactional blessing—receiving something from God.
Consider Jesus in Gethsemane:
- “My Father” – He began relationally
- “If it is possible” – He acknowledged God’s power
- “May this cup be taken away” – He expressed his petition
- “Yet not as I will, but as you will” – He submitted to God’s purpose
When Jesus processed his suffering through the lens of God’s purpose, something remarkable happened. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that “for the joy set before him he endured the cross.” Through submission, Jesus received transactional joy that enabled him to fulfill God’s plan.
What Happens When We Give Our “Not Enough” to God?
The feeding of the 5,000 demonstrates this principle perfectly. Let’s break it down:
1. Identify Your Need
The disciples recognized a problem: “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away so they may go into the villages and buy themselves food” (Matthew 14:15).
2. Offer What You Have (Your Seed)
Jesus responded, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat” (Matthew 14:16).
The disciples protested, “We have only five loaves and two fish” (Matthew 14:17). They emphasized their insufficiency with the word “only.”
This isn’t just about money—it’s about anything in your life. Whatever you lack, give it to God. If you lack love for someone, give that situation to God. If you lack forgiveness, give that struggle to Him.
3. God Asks for Your Participation
Matthew 19:26 reminds us, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” God’s strength is manifested through our weaknesses.
4. Offer It in Prayer
“Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples” (Matthew 14:19).
This prayer process has several components:
- Offering: Placing what you have in God’s hands
- Believing: “Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24)
- Blessing: Acknowledging God is more than enough
- Breaking: Allowing God to refine and reshape you
Like a potter with clay (Jeremiah 18:3-6), God reshapes us according to His purpose. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.”
5. Experience God’s Provision
“So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained” (Matthew 14:20).
When God blesses what He breaks, it enables you to have more than enough—not just for yourself, but for others. The miracle isn’t just that everyone was fed, but that there was abundance left over.
6. Return to Prayer
After this miracle, Jesus “went up on the mountain by Himself to pray” (Matthew 14:23). He returned to His practice of seeking refreshment, renewal, and strength from God.
Life Application
The big picture is clear: Put what you have in God’s hands, and He returns a blessing through your brokenness—not only for you but for those connected to you.
Ask yourself these questions this week:
- Am I praying to God or with God? How can I make my prayer life more relational?
- What am I holding back from giving to God? What area of insufficiency am I trying to manage on my own?
- When God breaks something in my life, do I resist or recognize it as part of His blessing process?
- How can I share God’s blessings with others this week?
This week, identify one area where you feel you don’t have enough. It might be patience with your children, love for a difficult person, or strength for a challenging situation. Take that “not enough” and deliberately place it in God’s hands through prayer. Then act in faith, trusting that God will multiply what you’ve given Him, and watch as He provides not just enough, but abundance.