I am convinced that my God will fully satisfy every need you have, for I have seen the abundant riches of glory revealed to me through Jesus Christ! Philippians 4:19
What have you talked yourself out of doing this year, not because you lacked the ability, but because some quiet voice convinced you there wasn’t enough? Not enough time. Not enough resources. Not enough of you to go around.
That voice has a name: scarcity. And it’s older than any of us. It entered the human story the moment sin dismantled a design that was never meant to run on fear.
The problem was never a lack of ability. It’s a mindset of scarcity.
If God designed us to bring life wherever we go, He was intentional in setting creation up to make that possible. Poverty was never part of His design. He filled the Garden of Eden with everything humanity needed. There was abundant provision, breathtaking beauty, meaningful work, and limitless opportunity to cultivate and steward creation. Man was even entrusted to multiply, create, and exercise dominion over the earth.
Nothing about Eden suggested there would not be enough. In the beginning, scarcity was not part of man’s experience or mindset. God revealed His extravagant generosity, and humanity was created to live from that abundance. There was no concern they would run out of time, energy, food, resources, imagination, or opportunity.
It was the fall of man that dismantled the perspective of abundance. Sin introduced the fear of not having enough, and scarcity quickly became one of the loudest voices influencing our decisions. Scarcity convinces us that if we give away what we have, we may not have enough left for ourselves. It reinforces the instinct to protect rather than invest, to preserve rather than multiply.
While wisdom calls us to steward our lives well, scarcity causes us to hoard what God intended us to give away. The truth is that hoarded gifts don’t serve anyone. They hold captive the power to influence, encourage, and transform and keep it stashed away for the perfect opportunity; the one that never comes. Those gifts intended for ourselves and others are eventually wasted.
Scarcity rarely announces itself as a crisis of faith. Most of the time it just sounds reasonable, like a quiet calculation running in the background that tells you to hold back until the numbers make more sense or to choose the “safe” path with the least risk.
Have you ever set up a connection for someone else and in the end it was really for you? I had a good friend who did missions work in Malawi, Africa and other friends who wanted to partner with her on a summer ministry trip. I set up a meeting for them to discuss the opportunities and logistics, but as it progressed, I felt the undeniable tug of the Holy Spirit that I should go. In my mind, I kept rehearsing the facts of this meeting; I was just the note taker, the connector, the observer, but that wasn’t what God had in mind.
In the end, neither of the others went. It was just me. My first overseas flight of countless hours, sleeping in a tent, “showering” with a bucket and a cup in the crisp outdoors and feeling like I really had nothing to offer. Scarcity was all around me, but it was also inside of me. I struggled to see what value I could offer.
So, while listening to worship music, I asked the Lord. “Why am I here?” His simple, gentle question back to me was, “What do you have? And who are you?” These were uncomfortable questions. I had some chocolate and protein bars, but that wasn’t the answer. What I brought was the gift of encouragement and listening to hear what God wanted to say to the people in the group.
And, so that is just what I did. I spent two weeks listening to His voice and sharing the pictures and words He showed me with the people who came from the US and those who lived and worked on the ground. God brought moments of clarity and challenge to the ladies working in the textile center, to the pastors caring for the people and to the workers managing orphans and school students.
I came feeling like I had nothing to offer; a scarcity mentality, and left recognizing that being sent carries with it the resource to complete the assignment. God was assuring me that while it is good to partner with others and there is a sense of security that comes from going in a group, there are times He wants to prove His faithfulness to me personally. A reminder that even when I feel alone and lacking, He is my source of abundance; nothing lacking for the moment or the task at hand.
That’s the difference between the two voices. Scarcity waits for enough before it moves. Abundance moves, trusting that enough will meet it there.
The story of Genesis and the fall of man isn’t the end of the story. Jesus promised that He came so we could have life. Not an adequate, scraping-by kind of life, but one that is abundant and overflowing. (John 10:10). Paul reminds us that God supplies everything we need; not because we work hard enough or have clever ideas, but because we have access to “His riches in glory”. (Philippians 4:19).
God’s intention was never for us to create abundance through effort, but to remember that He is the one who has been generously supplying from the beginning. The scarcity voice will keep whispering that you have to protect what little you have. The truth is quieter, but it’s older, and it’s louder in the end. You were made from abundance, for abundance, and there has always been more than enough.