Inadequate
Have you ever felt like you were inadequate? Unable to live up to the expectations of everyone around you? Lost in a hopeless race to get everything done God has appointed you for? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’re in good company: two well known Bible figures, Gideon and Jeremiah, felt the same way.
Gideon felt inadequate to be used of God. When an angel appeared unto Gideon and told him he would be used to save Israel from the Midianites he said “Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judges 6:15). Gideon felt inadequate: unqualified to do the Job God had called him to do.
The book of Judges later records the story Gideon is famous for. His company of three hundred men defeated the host of over a hundred and twenty thousand Midianites. Once they encircled the Midianites, they took clay pots with lamps hidden in them and trumpets in their other hand and broke the clay pots and blew upon the trumpets and shouted “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon” (Judges 7:18).
Can you imagine what would have happened if this one man had let his inadequacies get the better of him and not followed God’s will? Israel would have stayed in oppression by the Midianites and remained in despair for years.
Another man who felt inadequate was Jeremiah. The book begins when God tells the Jeremiah, who was then just a boy, that He ordained him to be a prophet unto the nation of Judah. Jeremiah 1:6 records the response. “Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.” Because of Jeremiah’s lack of confidence in himself, it was necessary for God to speak directly to him and tell him that He would fill his mouth. Only then did Jeremiah respond and begin his ministry as a prophet.
Jeremiah’s story illustrates a key point — we must not derive our confidence from ourselves or our accomplishments. Instead, we need to draw our strength, courage, and willingness to go forth from God’s will.
Next time that you feel inadequate, just remember that you’re in good company. Some of the greatest Heroes of the Faith had their doubts about God calling them. God can and will call you! Keep seeking him and following after Him. He will take care of the rest. It is in Him that we find our adequacy, as stated in Phillipians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Some of our greatest victories are born from recognition of our own inadequacy and God’s adequacy. Populate the comments section and share your own true story of a time when God stretched someone’s capabilities far beyond their normal capabilities: after all, that’s what He does!
AMEN, I love what you say about where we get out confindence, its not from what we’ve done, but from Him. From Who we know!
It’s funny that the thing that makes us unable to accomplish things on our own is what allows God to really do something. We realize that we are too small to do enough. For the person who wants to be self-sufficient and not need God, that’s death. For the person who acknowledges who God is, it’s the trigger to let God take care of things instead of relying on ourselves.
Every time God gives me a new assignment I feel inadequate. In a sermon I was watching the other day the preacher reminded us that God set it up that way. If we could do it in our own power, we wouldn’t let God be a part. God has to keep us in over our heads due to our strong human nature. Blub… blub… blub….