When What We Have Doesn't Seem Like Enough

It's easy to look at a big dream or a hard task and feel like we just don't have what it takes. Maybe it's not enough money, or not enough time, or not enough skill. It can feel like standing at the bottom of a tall mountain with only a small shovel in your hand. We might think, "There's no way I can ever do that with what I've got right now."

I think we all do this sometimes. We look at a challenge and instantly start adding up our resources. We count our pennies, our connections, our abilities. If the numbers don't match up, we might decide to shrink our dream to fit what we have. Or even worse, we give up entirely before we even start. It makes sense, in a way. We're taught to be practical, to live within our means. But what if the plan isn't just ours?

What if it's bigger than what we can do on our own? The more I think about it, the more I realize that some plans aren't meant to be fulfilled by our own power alone. They are so big, so much greater than what we can manage, that they require a different kind of partner. They require God. This reminds me of something I often say: Don't measure the size of God's plans by the size of your present resources.

Think about what the Bible tells us. When Moses stood before the Red Sea with a big army behind him and a massive body of water in front, what resources did he have? Just a staff, a simple walking stick. When David, a young shepherd boy, faced Goliath, a huge, scary warrior, he had a slingshot and five smooth stones. When Jesus fed thousands of hungry people, he started with just a few small loaves of bread and two fish.

In each case, what they had in their hands seemed tiny compared to the big problem they faced. But God didn't ask them to do it alone. He used their small resources and made them incredibly big. He didn't just add to what they had; He made it enough, and more than enough, in amazing ways. These stories show us that God often likes to work with what seems small so that everyone knows it was His power at work, not ours.

This doesn't mean we just sit back and do nothing. It means we bring what we do have, however small it seems, and we offer it. We take the first step. We pray and talk to God about it. We prepare. We learn. We try. And as we move forward, trusting that God is with us, we often find that the resources we need begin to appear. Doors open. People offer help. New ideas come to us. What felt impossible starts to feel possible, not because we suddenly got bigger, but because God is bigger than any of our limitations.

Questions to Consider

What big dream or challenge feels too large for what you have right now? Have you ever seen God use something small in your life to do something great? What's one small step you can take today, even if you don't see the whole path yet?