To be human is to not be enough.

We don’t like that, of course. After all, who wants to feel those not-enough feelings?

As a result, we seek pastors, therapists, self-help books and anything else available to us that will tell us that we are, in fact, enough, rather than bringing those feeling to the God who would tell us that he is.

He is the enoughness that we need.

He is the void-filler.

The Great I Am is all that I, tragically, am not.

He can when I can’t.

He will when I won’t.

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What if the very thing that turns people away from the Lord was what brings them back to the Lord?

The prodigal son leaves the Father to chase the freedom to indulge only to find the emptiness that indulgence ultimately leads to (the story is found in Luke 15).

Rebels board boats to get as far away as possible from the call of God on their lives, only to have that same boat bring them back after years of captivity (check out Jonah 1:3 and then read Isaiah 60:9).

Could it be that a generation that seems to be turning away from God because of the powerlessness they see in believers could be brought back to God because of a demonstration of God’s power through believers?

Not only do I believe it’s possible; I believe the Bible commands it.

Elijah said that it was the fire on the altar that would identify the ONE TRUE GOD (1 Kings 18:24).

Yahweh wasn’t the only named God—there were hundreds of gods in that day—but he was the only LIVING God, and only a living God can answer the cries of his people.

Paul knew that it was the power of God that would draw people to the salvation of God. In 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, he made the clear choice to demonstrate the Spirit’s power more than his giftedness.

For too long, we have said too much about God’s power and shown too little of it, and the great desertion of so many people from the church has often been in direct response to that gap between words and actions.

In her book, Wounded by God’s People, Anne Graham Lotz wrote about how her hunger for the Lord waned during a two-week Christian leadership retreat she attended as a teen. “I became increasingly skeptical of what I was being exposed to—not because there was anything unbiblical about it, but because of the disconnect between what the staff taught and I observed in their behavior.” (emphasis added)

In a debate on whether God exists that I watched recently between a Christian and an atheist, the atheist supposed that there was no way for a Christian to show that his God was the only true God. When he said it, I thought of Elijah, Paul, and people too numerous to count throughout every generation who would have simply said, “Just watch. Fire is coming, and the fire you thought you didn’t need will be the very thing that brings you to your knees.”

Do it again, Lord.

Lord, I have heard the report about you; Lord, I stand in awe of your deeds. Revive your work in these years; make it known in these years. In your wrath remember mercy! (‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3‬:‭2)

During a recent run, I was listening to a book and found myself stopping to ponder a piece of Scripture that perhaps no one would find worth pondering but me.

I don’t even remember the reason the author quoted the following section of John’s gospel, but I’ll never forget the lesson the Holy Spirit showed me in it.

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” (‭‭John‬ ‭20‬:‭24‬-‭28, emphasis mine)

It’s the oddest things that stand out to me, and in this passage, I couldn’t stop wondering why Thomas didn’t just stick his finger in the hole in Jesus’ side? I know, it sounds random, but if he was going to put his finger in the nail marks, why not just put the same finger in his side?

This post won’t give you an answer because I don’t have one, but asking that question made me realize that the wounds of Jesus are big enough to handle the doubts and questions we have about Jesus! The nail marks were bigger than the finger-sized doubt, but the bigger doubt represented by Thomas’ entire hand needed a bigger wound.

I don’t know what your doubts are, but I’m sure you’ve got them, and I’m even more sure that what Jesus accomplished on the cross provides more than enough room for them and evidence to overcome them.

So do what Thomas did — reach out to the very One you’re doubting and investigate who he claims to be. I have no doubt (pun intended) that you’ll say the same thing Thomas did when the wounds of Jesus swallowed up the doubts in his mind.

“My Lord and my God!”