God Is Enough Part 2

A few days after I lost the twins, a friend came over to visit with me. She spent six hours at my kitchen table talking with me, and I thanked God many times she was able to be there.

While we sat together, she shared a poem about waiting. It is by far the best poem I have ever read. I’d like to share it with you.

“Wait” by Russel Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . .

And the Master so gently said, “Wait.”

“Wait? You say wait?” my indignant reply.

“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!

Is Your hand shortened? Or have You not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming Your Word.

My future and all to which I relate

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?

I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign,

Or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign.

You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

And Lord I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:

I’m weary of asking! I need a reply.”

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,

As my Master replied again, “Wait.”

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,

And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting for what?”

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . .

and He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.

You’d have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me.

You’d not know the depth of my love for each saint.

You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.

You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there.

You’d not know the joy of resting in Me

When darkness and silence are all you can see.

You’d never experience the fullness of love

When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of my comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight.

The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,

But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I’m doing in you.

So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.

And though oft My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait.”

I’ve nearly memorized this poem, and I find certain parts of it popping into my head at just the right time. As I think on God being enough, the lines, “You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee, what it means that My grace is sufficient for thee”, come to mind.

Sufficient. Enough.

It is during difficult times that we found out whether or not He is truly enough for us. If He’s not, it isn’t because He can’t give us what we need or because He’s left us alone. It is because we choose not to take hold of who He is, and instead push Him away. It is because we do not want Him more than we want our dreams and desires.

The poem illustrates this beautiful truth: If we immediately had everything we ever asked for, we would have our dreams realized. But we’d also have a life full of sin and meaningless endeavors. We would have a life devoid of who God is and what He can do.

“Then Jesus told His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?’ ” – Matthew 16:24-26

It is only because Jesus lives that our lives have purpose and joy and eternal value.

Through the trials He allows to touch our lives, He reveals more and more of His character. He shows His love, His power, His mercy, His grace, His guiding hand…and if we continue to wait on Him, our story will have a beautiful ending.

Whether that’s here or in heaven, granting our desire or replacing it, that doesn’t matter as much as whether or not we have Him. He will always be enough to satisfy our souls.

©️ Grace Baeten 2023