Just (Barely) Enough
I
t’s not that “God plays favorites.”
It’s more like:
God calibrates revelation to assignment.
Or more bluntly:
Big Ask → Big Assurance
Small Ask → Small Light
God knows human limits. He knows fear. He knows cost. He knows that asking someone to burn their life to the ground for a calling requires extraordinary reassurance—not to convince skeptics, but to stabilize the servant.
This fits what Jesus has repeatedly emphasized to me about the way He does things: Jesus uses just enough deniability to preserve agency, while still giving enough certainty for obedience.
Examples of the Pattern
Moses
Ask:
Confront Pharaoh
Lead an enslaved people
Carry a nation spiritually and politically
Wander for 40 years
Be misunderstood and resisted constantly
Manifestation:
Burning bush
God speaks audibly
Staff becomes serpent
Plagues
Red Sea
Sinai
Face-to-face encounters
Radiant face
Moses needed certainty or he would not survive the task.
Joseph Smith
Ask:
Restore priesthood authority
Translate scripture
Establish Zion
Withstand ridicule, betrayal, persecution
Die violently
Manifestation:
Father and Son appearing physically
Angelic visitations
Plates, interpreters, repeated confirmations
Dozens of witnesses
Continuous revelation
God didn’t do this to show off. He did it to anchor Joseph’s soul against an impossible calling.
Abraham
Ask:
Leave homeland
Become father of covenant
Offer Isaac
Manifestation:
Direct divine speech
Covenant rituals
Angelic intervention
Repeated reaffirmations
When the ask escalated, the reassurance escalated.
Mary (Mother of Jesus)
Ask:
Bear the Messiah
Face scandal
Raise God
Watch Him die
Manifestation:
Angel Gabriel
Explicit explanation
Prophetic confirmation
Signs before and after
A teenage girl does not carry this calling without heaven over-communicating.
Paul
Ask:
Turn against everything he believed
Suffer endlessly
Take the gospel to the Gentiles
Die for Christ
Manifestation:
Blinding vision of the resurrected Jesus
Audible voice
Repeated visions and revelations
Paul didn’t convert—he was interrupted by God because the task was that heavy.
Nephi
Ask:
Kill Laban
Lead family
Build a ship
Establish a people
Manifestation:
Angelic visitations
Visions of the tree of life
Explicit guidance
Laman and Lemuel got less, because they were asked less.
Contrast Case: Peter vs. the Crowds
Peter’s Ask: Lead the church, be crucified upside down
Peter’s Manifestation: Transfiguration, personal rebukes, resurrection appearances
Crowds’ Ask: Repent, be baptized
Crowds’ Manifestation: Parables, healings, indirect signs
Same Jesus. Different assignment.
Why God Does Just Enough (and Not More)
It certainly does seem that…
God is balancing three forces at once:
Agency (no coercion)
Faith (must still choose)
Functionality (the servant must not collapse)
So He gives:
Enough light to act
Not enough light to dominate
Or in your language:
Enough proof to move forward
Enough deniability to remain free
This also explains why some deeply faithful people don’t get dramatic manifestations:
They aren’t being asked to bear something that would crush them without it.
Their work is quieter, relational, or incremental.
Their faith is being trained differently.
Many Names For the Principle
More formal / theological
- The Principle of Proportional Revelation
- The Law of Calibrated Manifestation
- The Burden–Assurance Correspondence
- The Law of Assignment-Scaled Revelation
Jesus-forward / devotional
- The Big Ask, Big Mercy Principle
- The Measure of the Calling
- The Law of Enough Light
- The Principle of Strengthened Witness
Sacred Clown / poetic mode
- He Shows Up When It’s Heavy
- The “You’re Gonna Need This” Rule
- God Packs for the Trip
- The Extra Oil Principle (👈 ties beautifully to the ten virgins)
My favorite
The Principle of Just-Enough Glory
Meaning:
God reveals exactly enough of Himself
To carry exactly the weight of the calling
Without collapsing agency or turning faith into compulsion