The Making of a Leader: When You Feel Inadequate

What do you do when you feel inadequate? Have you been feeling inadequate or like you lack the skills and tools needed to do the task that God has assigned you? Or maybe you have been so secure in your comfort zone that the thought of doing something new scares you. Whatever the reason there is, you might try to get yourself out of what God has tasked you to do, to no avail. You know often we have been conditioned to think that God will always get someone else when we say no to what He is asking us to. But there are two instances where the people’s no did not make any difference. 

The first person is Jonah

The first example is Jonah. God called Jonah and asked him to go and preach repentance to the people of Nineveh. Jonah tried to escape by running in a different direction. This, however, bore no fruit because God hunted him down and He got him to do what He wanted. 

One day, long ago, God’s Word came to Jonah, Amittai’s son: “Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They’re in a bad way and I can’t ignore it any longer.” But Jonah got up and went the other direction to Tarshish, running away from God. He went down to the port of Joppa and found a ship headed for Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board, joining those going to Tarshish—as far away from God as he could get. But God sent a huge storm at sea, the waves towering. The ship was about to break into pieces. The sailors were terrified. They called out in desperation to their gods. They threw everything they were carrying overboard to lighten the ship.

Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship to take a nap. He was sound asleep. The captain came to him and said, “What’s this? Sleeping! Get up! Pray to your god! Maybe your god will see we’re in trouble and rescue us.” Then the sailors said to one another, “Let’s get to the bottom of this. Let’s draw straws to identify the culprit on this ship who’s responsible for this disaster.” So they drew straws. Jonah got the short straw.

Then they grilled him: “Confess. Why this disaster? What is your work? Where do you come from? What country? What family?” He told them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship God, the God of heaven who made sea and land.” At that, the men were frightened, really frightened, and said, “What on earth have you done!” As Jonah talked, the sailors realized he was running away from God. They took Jonah and threw him overboard. Immediately the sea quieted down. Then God assigned an enormous fish to swallow Jonah. He was in the fish’s belly three days and nights. Jonah 1:1‭-‬10‭, ‬15‭, ‬17 MSG

Jonah did not want to go and preach to the people. He probably felt inadequate for the task God had tasked Him. Here, God sent a storm to get Jonah to do exactly what He wanted. Although God sent a storm, He also made provision for Jonah’s protection. So God can send a storm to get you to do His will. Could it be that the storm and situations you are facing result from your disobedience? For you to really understand the reason for your storm, I would encourage you to take a look at the events that led to the storm and your state of mind, as well as your spiritual state, before the storm.

There are storms that God brings into our lives to realign us to the path He had for us to begin with. In Jonah’s case, there were people who needed to hear that word so as not to get destroyed. It was a matter of death, so there was no way that God was going to let Jonah go Scott-free since He knew Jonah had what it took. Maybe, like Jonah, there are people who depend on your word to get them out of sin and into repentance. If that’s the case, then just know that God will not let you negate the task. You will have to fulfill it. And no matter how much you try to get out of it, God will still pursue you until you agree. Even when you feel inadequate, God will still use you for what He has called you to.

The second person is Moses, and this is where we will spend most of our time. 

When God called Moses to deliver the Israelites from bondage, Moses had all kinds of excuses. In fact, he just did not want to go. Do you feel inadequate? Maybe, like Moses, you have been making excuses to get out of your task. What do you do when you feel inadequate?

Let us look at some excuses that Moses gave God.

Moses answered God, “But why me? What makes you think I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11 MSG

The first excuse that Moses gave God was that he did not have what it took to deliver them. He did not think he was the right person for the job. This is a case of a lack of identity. Moses did not know who he was or maybe he had forgotten who he was because of the situation that was going on. After all, he was a fugitive and was living in Midian. He had forgotten that he had an identity as a Jew and a descendant of Abraham. He allowed his situation to define him.

Instead of allowing who he really was to shine. Have you had moments where you have forgotten who you are because of the situation around you? Or maybe you have been in this situation for such a long time that you don’t even remember who you used to be. And maybe because you have been out of touch with it you feel lost. You know, we all have a sense of identity and it all stems from who we really are from the core of our being. Unfortunately, our background, trauma, and culture can cause us to have an identity crisis and forget who God called us to be. When you feel inadequate, it is a sign that you are experiencing a case of an identity crisis.

Then Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me to you; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What do I tell them?” Exodus 3:13 MSG 

 He went from asking who he was to asking who God was. The thing about our identity that we need to always remember is that we root our identity in God. For you to understand who you really are, you have to know who God is. Moses did not know whether to trust God and so he was feeling lost. He did not go if He could trust God to keep His word or whether this time God would come through.

Why I am saying this because 40 years prior to this burning bush encounter, Moses had tried to save an Israelite, and this had backfired on him. This leads me to believe that Moses, from an early age, knew he was called to be a deliverer. But when he tried to do what he could, it failed. It led him to believe that he was not called for that.

Can you imagine being so sure of yourself and then doing something only for it to fail? Have you had moments where you did something you felt God told you to only for it to fail? How did you feel? And did that experience cause you to change your perception of God? Did it cause you to doubt God? Moses probably was battling with all that and wondering who God was. He had heard all about God, but he lacked experiential knowledge of God. This is the situation we have today. Most of us know about God. We have even heard of other people’s experiences with God or even know Him from reading the Bible. But because we do not have experiential knowledge of God, we doubt Him.

Unfortunately, this is never enough. Knowing about God and having a relationship with God are two different rent things and God wants us to have a relationship with Him. No wonder Moses asked the question. He just did not know God because he had never had an encounter with Him. Do you have a relationship with God? You know the only way you can get to where you know your identity, you have to have a relationship WITH God. Lasting Confidence comes from a relationship with God. When you feel inadequate it could be because you don’t have a relationship with God.

Moses objected, “They won’t trust me. They won’t listen to a word I say. They’re going to say, ‘God? Appear to him? Hardly!’”Exodus 4:1 MSG

Moses raised another objection to God: “Master, please, I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer.” Exodus 4:10 MSG

 Moses here was asking this question to understand who God was but the core of it all was why would you pick me if you really knew who I was? Are you God? Are you the same God I heard about from my mother growing up? Moses could not understand how God could pick him knowing very well that he was a fugitive. And not only that, the fact that he had failed the first time.

Can you relate to Moses? Have you gotten to a place where you forgot who God is because of your situation? Or maybe you failed before and because of that, you don’t think God should use you. Moses did not think he was worthy to have an encounter with God. His past probably brought this about. He had allowed his past mistakes to haunt him, and he had not forgiven himself.

Fact that he had failed in his mission the first time, Moses doubted his capability and this caused him to assume that no one would even listen to him. Have there been moments in your life where, because of being in some wilderness season you have believed that you do not have value because you lack the impact you used to have? Before Moses had the palace and the authority from the fact that he lived in the pharaoh’s home and was adopted by his daughter. Now Moses did not have that. So he could not understand how God could use him now considering he was a nobody. That he had resigned himself as a shepherd proves he thought his best years were behind him.

Maybe, like Moses, you have resigned yourself to thinking that your best years are behind you because you don’t command the same authority you used to have before. Well, today I want you to feel encouraged because Moses felt the same way and God used him, anyway. God is not looking for all the things that make you the right person for the job. He will qualify you when He calls you. And it is when you are weak that His strength is revealed. God loves when you get to the end of yourself because that’s when His glory is revealed the most.

Now, I am obviously not telling you to dim your light or embody false humility for God to use you. What I am simply saying is that the places you feel the most inadequate are the ones God wants to use. There comes when you lay what you know at the altar and ask God to use you despite it. When you feel inadequate, you become the best candidate for God to use to reveal His glory and sovereignty in and through you.

What are the lessons to learn from this?

There are assignments we cannot say no to.

Each one of us at some point will get an assignment from God that no matter how many times we say no to, we will keep circling back to them until we do them. Moses tried to get out of the assignment so many times, but no matter the excuse, God gave him a solution to it. It got to a point where Moses ran out of excuses and had to submit to what God was telling him. I don’t know what God has assigned you to do that you cannot get out of. Today I just want to encourage you to lean in. And how you can know that the task is compulsory by looking at these instances. 

1. Does the assignment keep coming back no matter how many times I try to run away from it? 
2. Have I tried it before and it failed and now God is asking me to go back to it again? 
3. Have I experienced storms in my life that came because I said no to something God was asking me to do? 
4. Has God shut all other doors to make me focus on the said assignment? 
5. Will the assignment, let my identity in Christ shine? 
6. Will the said thing glorify God? 
7. Is the assignment tied to the salvation of other people? 

These are some questions that will help you determine if the assignment is mandatory or not. And by this, I mean you are the one who can do the job. God knew Moses was the best person for the job. Even after Moses said no and God assigned Aaron to do the heavy lifting, still God ensured Moses was the voice behind the whole operation. This brings me to my second point. 

Your purpose is unique to you and God will get you to fulfill it.

God did not take Moses’ purpose away. He only tweaked it by bringing Aaron into the picture. While it’s true God can raise someone else to do the specific task assigned to you, HE wants you to be the one to do it. This should encourage you especially if you feel you missed it. God will redeem lost time and get you back on track, regardless of how long you have been away from the said task. Don’t worry, God will redirect you and get you back on track. Your inadequacy reveals your purpose.

God will use the areas you feel inadequate. 

God does not look at the limitation because He can compensate for the inadequacy. All God wants you to do is to say yes to whatever He is calling you to do. You will not do it on your own. He will be with you every step of the way, and that is His assurance to you. God reassured Moses that He would be with Him. And this is the same thing He wants you to know. The inadequacies are immaterial to God. Just lay them on the altar and see Him use them and also give you sufficient grace that will enable you to do things you never thought you would. 

Conclusion.

The feeling of inadequacy is normal. In fact, this is often a sign that God is calling you to do something bigger than you that requires faith and Him. However, you should not allow the said feeling to cause you to freeze and keep you from moving forward. The secret is to give it to God. This is because when you do that, He will multiply the little skill you have and get you to do exceedingly mighty things you never thought you would. When you feel inadequate, this is the best time to turn to God.