Questions to ponder:
Have we ever had a time when we felt inadequate for a task God was calling us to do?
Were our feelings of inadequacy a bad thing or a good thing?
Could it have been that God specifically chose us for that task precisely because we felt inadequate?
What is it that draws us to follow (or causes us to shrink from following) God’s leading when we feel woefully inadequate?
Review the story of Moses and his encounter with God at the desert bush that was engulfed with flames but did not burn up (Exodus 3-4). Moses felt inadequate to return to Egypt, confront Pharaoh, and tell him that he (Moses) was going to lead his (Pharaoh’s) entire work force of 600,000 men with their families and all of their belongings right out of Egypt!.
Moses voiced four objections:
“Who am I?! I’m a nobody! Find someone else to go.”
“My own people are never going to believe that you appeared to me like this in a burning bush and told me to travel back to Egypt.”
“I’m not good with words. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”
“God, just send someone else!”
What objections do we raise for why we just can’t possibly do what God is calling us to do?
Yes, we are inadequate and feel weak but God looks for people like that so that we will rely on His strength and not our own.
God told the apostle Paul, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”
Paul then responded, “So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work though me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:6-10, NLT).
In his book, When Light Pierced the Darkness, Richard E. Hershind said, “Fear disables the gifts within us, causes us to back off and wait for another day.”
Let’s not let that happen to us in 2022. May we, in God’s strength, say yes to Him and follow Him into the new venture to which He is calling us.