‘Do I have enough?’ A story to help us deal with our common question

By Dean Collins

If you are a leader of a family, a business, a nonprofit, or maybe an event of some sort, you know the question that eventually gets in your head. Do we have enough? Enough help, enough cash, enough customers, enough food? If you are the one in charge or responsible, then you hope and pray you planned well enough to get the job accomplished.

Early in one’s career or when you are new to a particular role, the word enough might come into play in a different way. Do I know enough to do this job? Am I enough to fulfill the role I have been given? Do I have enough strength, patience, and faith to lead?

This six-letter word can stir up insecurity, fear, and fatigue and raise important issues of faith.

Too little food

In John 6 we read John’s description of the feeding of the 5,000. In the discourse of chapter 5, Jesus questioned whether the Jews really believed the words of Moses. Jewish leaders had challenged the authority of Jesus and whether he was an agent of the Father in the world. And they deferred to the traditions and words of Moses as their authority. The last words John recorded before Jesus changed locations with the crowd following him were these:

“For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Jesus wasted no words and no scenes. With the question of believing Moses lingering in the minds of the audience, Jesus moves into a situation where, like Moses, there was a hungry crowd and no apparent resources to feed them. He posed a question to Phillip: “Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?” John tells us that Jesus asked the question to test Phillip. Was Jesus testing whether even his own disciples understood who he was? Did they believe that if Moses could feed a crowd, couldn’t the one sent by God as Messiah do the same?

Was Jesus testing whether even his own disciples understood who he was?

Phillip went to the question of resources just as you and I often do: “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” Two hundred denarii wasn't pocket change. That was the equivalent of several months of wages. And even if the disciples had kept their day jobs this would have been more than they could have pooled together. They just did not have enough money to buy enough bread to serve even an appetizer, let alone a meal.

Andrew jumped in to try and solve the problem. Assessing the resources of the crowd, he found a boy with a sack lunch and offered it up to Jesus. Jesus told the 12 to have the crowd sit down.

Too much crowd

How many people make a crowd? It depends. Maybe seven or eight if you are trying to fit in a Volkswagen. Maybe a dozen in a small conference room. In this case, it was thousands on a hill. But no matter how big the crowd, when you are in charge you’re thinking about how best to handle it.

Crowds are quick to celebrate and quick to get angry. If you have a crowd with unmet expectations, things can get ugly pretty quickly. And when you have a crowd excited because of something good, even then they can be hard to manage. Sooner or later you come back to the issue we discussed to begin. Enough.

The 12 were now concerned both about the crowd and about having enough. They would soon see that Jesus is enough in every situation and no matter how many are involved.

In his teaching just finished, Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” Did anyone in the crowd remember his words?

More than enough

Jesus took the loaves and fish and gave thanks to the Father and instructed the 12 to pass out the food. Jesus was enough that day. So much so that he could tell the crowd would insist on him being their earthly king if he didn’t move on. Jesus was enough for that, too, but that was not why he came. He would be their king but not according to their desires. He knew then and knows now that his purposes are far better than our wants.

Every day we have a decision to make concerning Jesus. We must decide in every situation whether he is enough to meet our need. Is he enough to help us in the lean times, and is he enough to lead us in times of plenty? Is he enough to meet our family needs, health situation, grief, insecurities, and fears? Can we trust him when there is no visible path forward? Will we trust him to guide us when the assignment seems certainly more than we can handle?

It is the same question those who saw Jesus 2,000 years ago had to answer. Jesus hasn’t changed the question. Maybe for us as with Phillip, it is a test.

I suspect if we get quiet and alone with Jesus, we will remember the times he has proved to be enough over and over in the past. Just as the 12 had 12 baskets of leftovers, I suspect we can recall that Jesus has always been enough in the past and he will be enough for whatever we face today.

Our focus is not the size of the crowds or the crowded thoughts of our minds trying to solve what it seems we simply can’t. Maybe our focus is simply to be Jesus.

He is enough.

Your time with God’s Word
‭‭John‬ ‭6‬:‭5‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV

Photo by Ben White at Unsplash.com.

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