You Are Adequate!!!

I cannot begin to count or chronicle the times in my life when I have felt inadequate. Overall, I am a confident person - I think. However, when I look back at various stages and experiences in my life, I remember that nagging feeling of inadequacy. Not being good enough. Not being smart enough. Not being pretty enough. Then, as I got older, thoughts turned to: I can't be a good mother; I am not smart enough to be a teacher; I'm not...I can't...


You get the idea - because you've probably been right there with me in some of those vulnerable times.


Spiritually speaking, our enemy is smart - he knows right where to pounce to make me feel like I can't do something, or that I am a failure, or that I am not good enough. So think with me for a minute about this issue of adequacy and let's see what God's Word says.


Okay, do NOT quit reading after my first statement or you will leave feeling beat up. 


1) You may be inadequate in some areas! I am inadequate in some - we all are. If we weren't, why would we need a Savior? But I can promise you this, based on scripture, that whatever He calls you to do or wherever He calls you to go, you will be adequate because He is more than enough!


Remember Moses? His feelings of inadequacy and inferiority are described in Exodus 3 and 4. God called Moses to return to Egypt to bring God's people out of slavery and into the Promised Land - a pretty scary and daunting task.

• But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" Ex. 3:11
• Then Moses said, "What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say?" Ex. 4:1
• Then Moses said to the Lord, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in times past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." Ex. 4:10

God continually reassured Moses that He would go with him, and He showed him evidence of His mighty power. But Moses continued to wiggle and doubt until Ex. 4:14 says, "Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses..."

It's not like Moses didn't know the power and awesomeness of God. He had just met Him at the burning bush for pete's sake! As the story continued, Moses did go to Pharaoh, but he took along his brother Aaron to do the talking. God did use Moses, but I wonder what blessings he missed because he was not totally submissive to God. 

But, friend, we are so like Moses, listening to the enemy whisper those lines of inadequacy and insecurity in our ears. 

2) You are adequate - if Jesus is your Lord and Savior - for whatever He calls you to do and wherever He calls you to go. I am adequate! WOW! If He has called you to further your education, you are adequate; if He has called you to be a parent, you are adequate; if He has called you to a particular job or profession, you are adequate; if He has called you to minister to your neighbor, you are adequate. 

Here's what I've learned (not that I am perfect at living it out!): I am adequate because He is more than adequate, more than enough! My adequacy is in Him.

• Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God who also made us adequate... 2 Cor. 3:4-6
• But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption... 1 Cor. 1:30

We are  told in 2 Tim. 1:9 that He has saved us and called us with a holy calling - not because  of anything we have done or can do, but because He has a purpose for us and gives us the grace to fulfill that purpose through Jesus Christ.

You see, He's not going to give us a job to do and not equip us to do it; He's not going to put us somewhere and not give us what we need to live there. That's not His character - not who He is.

So, friend, we all have times when we don't feel adequate for the task before us. But that's just what it is - a feeling. The facts rest in Jesus, and because He is my Savior, He is all the adequacy I need. 

• Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

Let's Get Smart!

Growing up in the late 60's and early 70's, one of my favorite TV shows was Get Smart, a comedy featuring a bumbling spy known as Maxwell Smart and his spy side-kick, Agent 99. Max is best known for the telephone hidden in the sole of his shoe. I guess one of the purposes of the show was to relieve some of the anxiety of that Cold War era.

Spies have always played an important role in history. Basically, they have fulfilled one of two roles - secretly getting the lay of the land, so to speak, or infiltrating the enemy to gather intelligence.

Moses sent in a group of spies to get a look at the Promised Land before they were allowed to go in and claim it. They needed to know what they were going up against. Moses chose a man from each of the twelve tribes, excluding the priestly tribe of Levi. The account of their mission is found in Numbers 13-14.

The spies spent 40 days surveying the entire land and even brought back some of the bountiful fruit they found. They reported that the fruit was only a sample, that the land "certainly does flow with milk and honey..." In other words, it was all that had been promised and more! But here's the kicker. Nine of the eleven said, "Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there." (The descendants of Anak were a race of abnormally large people - giants like Goliath.) They went on to say, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us...we will be devoured..."

Now, this is the land that God promised Abraham generations before. And He said He would give them the land flowing with milk and honey. So, something is not adding up!

Well, there were two of the spies who did not agree with the other nine. Caleb and Joshua. In Numbers 14, all of the people of Israel began grumbling and complaining to and against Moses and Aaron, and even saying they were better off in Egyptian captivity. In the midst of that chaos and their fear, those two men stood up and pleaded with the people to remember the promises of God and the many provisions He had accomplished for them. They said, "If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us...only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey."

On one side, we hear the nine voices of fear, and on the other side, we hear the two voices of faith.

Isn't it the same for us today? We sense where God is leading us, what He wants us to do, who He wants us to share Jesus with, but we are conflicted by the voices of fear and the voices of faith. And many times, just like in the account of the Israelites, the voices of fear seem to out number those of faith, and fear is a human reaction that is fanned by peer pressure.