Things Too High For Me
Do you ever feel unqualified?
I have to admit I have and often do. For example, I haven’t written here for a while because I felt I had nothing to write about, or nothing good I could bring.
Whomp whomp whomp.
But I’m not alone on this. Feelings of inadequacy were also all over our favorite people in the Bible:
“Oh Lord I’m not good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now…please send someone else!” – Moses (Exodus 4:10, 13)
“Oh Lord, I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!” – Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:6)
These feelings are quick to paralyze us from entering into the very thing God is calling us to do, who He is calling us to be, and the direction He is calling us to take.
Maybe he wants you to get involved in a ministry. Maybe He wants you to do something you haven’t before. Maybe He wants you to make a big change in your life. Maybe He wants you to step out of your comfort zone. Maybe He wants you to sing. Maybe He wants you to write.
On writing, my favorite writer and eye-opener, Elizabeth Elliot, said it like this:
“I was perhaps exercising myself in great matters, things too high for me. The answer, of course, was yes. I am always doing that. The subject is far beyond either my intelligence or my personal experience. But the things most worth writing about are all “too wonderful for me,” things so high that I cannot attain unto them – nor, I suppose, can anyone who measures his own pain by the pain of the thorn-crowned and crucified King. Yet I write…”
– Elisabeth Elliot, on writing ‘A Path Through Suffering’
What are the areas in your life where you feel inadequate? What are you postponing? Where have you been stuck?
I pray that you would give these things to God today. I pray He will clothe you with boldness, diligence and assurance of His will for your life.
The reality is this: inferiority and pride are both sides of the same coin. Both are centered around the preoccupation of self.
Let’s look away from ourselves for a second, and look to Him who is all powerful. Him whose strength surpasses boundaries and whose Word never changes. Him who takes care of me, and takes care of you. Him who will never leave you nor forsake you.
We can learn more truths in 1 Corinthians 1:25-31:
1. God may call us to do something that seems foolish
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
2. God called us in our weakness, sinfulness and fear…not for when we “have it together”
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
3. God is glorified when we allow Him to work through us. It’s His strength, not ours.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong...so that no one may boast before him.
4. It is because of Jesus that we are redeemed and able to do His will
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Obedience to God leads to holiness and Christlikeness. It leads to molding.
But you know what it also leads to?
It leads to His joy and His peace — unattainable anywhere else, and impossible to get through anybody else. It leads to the fullness of life He has prepared for you.
Do you trust that He will be the one empowering you to do the very things He’s called you to do?
Let’s take the steps of faith. Let’s move towards our calling.
Yes, we are often unqualified. But God isn’t.
