It is Enough

“Then Israel said, ‘It is enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.’”  Genesis 45:28

When someone exclaims, “It is enough,” either a requirement has been satisfied, or a need has been fulfilled, or a limit has been reached. This phrase occurs seven times in the Old Testament (two different Hebrew words), and three times in the New (each a different Greek word).

In its first occurrence (in our text), Jacob is overcome with thankful emotion at the news that his beloved son, long given up for dead, is still alive. For a very different reason, Pharaoh later cried: “Make supplication to the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail” (Exodus 9:28).

“It is enough! Now relax your hand!” (2 Sam. 24:16; 1 Chron. 21:15). This command of God to the death angel stopped the destruction of Israel following David’s sin of numbering his people. Later, when Elijah thought he could bear no more, “he requested for himself that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough’” (1 Kings 19:4).

On the other hand, “There are three things that will not be satisfied, Four that will not say, ‘Enough’: Sheol, and the barren womb, Earth that is never satisfied with water, And fire that never says, ‘Enough’” (Proverbs 30:15-16).

In the New Testament, Jesus said: “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master” (Matt. 10:25). As the time of His arrest was drawing near, He told His disciples: “It is enough; the hour has come” (Mark 14:41). When they produced two swords, “He said to them, ‘It is enough’” (Luke 22:38).

There obviously are many types of circumstances which can lead one to cry: “Enough!” But “in the ages to come” there will never be an end to “the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7). We can never get enough of God!