How do you think God wants to use you?
Really. Stop and think about it. In what ways is God calling you to obey Him in faith? What might God be calling you to? From the seemingly small promptings of serving a stranger, to the idea of sharing the gospel with our friends, to the seemingly big calls of planting a church, we have a tendency to respond to God with fear, insecurity, and questions of doubt:
- Can you really use me?
- How will I know what to say or do?
- What will people think of me?
- What if I’m not “good” enough?
Fortunately for us, God is extremely patient and has experience with dealing with people who ask Him these questions. In fact, Moses, a man we remember for his faith, asked similar questions when God called him to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.
If you’re not familiar with the Exodus story, God’s chosen people, Israel, had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. God gets Moses’s attention by setting a bush on fire, yet not consuming it, and then tells him that He is going to use Moses to free the Israelite slaves from Egypt. I feel like it would be immediately convincing to see the burning bush and hear God speak audibly, but apparently that wasn’t enough for Moses. (And let’s be real, if we were in Moses’s shoes, we’d probably respond the same way). In Moses’s conversation with God in Exodus 3 and 4, he asks questions reflective of those same four questions we still ask God today. God’s responses to Moses have huge implications for us today as well.
Can you really use me?
The first question Moses asks after God calls him to lead His people out of slavery is, “Who am I that I should go?” Moses knows his past sins (like murder) and is well aware of his weaknesses (a speech impediment doesn’t seem like the most ideal leadership attribute). I would guess Moses feels unqualified, insecure, and unworthy, wondering if God could really use a person like him. God doesn’t answer Moses’s insecurities with, “Come on, I know you can do it!” or “Moses, I chose you because you are so special and gifted!” No, God answers Moses’s insecurities by drawing Moses’s attention away from Moses and onto God. It doesn’t matter who Moses is, it matters that God promises, “I will be with you.” Despite Moses’s faults and insecurities, God promises to be with him and to use him – not because Moses is awesome, but because God is awesome.
Maybe you feel like God can’t use you because of your past sin, or because of your weaknesses, or because you don’t feel like you’re an “awesome” Christian. But, friend, God is an awesome God and He chooses to use the weak (2 Corinthians 12:9), the fools (1 Corinthians 1:26-29), and the fragile (2 Corinthians 4:7). God wants to draw our attention away from ourselves and onto Him. When you wonder if God can really use you, know that God’s promise is as true today to us as it was to Moses: “I will be with you.” God promises to us in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
How will I know what to say or do?
Moses responds to God’s assurance with more questions of doubt. He asks God what he’s supposed to do if the Israelites ask for the name of the God who sent him. He asks God, “What shall I say to them?” Graciously, God answers not only that particular question, but He gives Moses an even bigger picture of His plan, perhaps answering some of Moses’s other unspoken “what if” questions he may have had. God reveals His big plan to Moses, all in light of His covenantal name – Yahweh – which carries with it the weight of God’s self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal, unchanging, and faithful nature. God directs Moses’s focus off of his own limited and finite knowledge and onto God’s sovereign and faithful leadership.
When God calls you into faith-filled obedience, do you consider every single “what if?” situation that could possibly happen? Sometimes God graciously lays out His plan before us, but more often than not, He doesn’t divulge more than one little step at a time. We have a tendency to think that if God would just tell us all the steps, then we would feel less anxious and be able to obey. But if Moses continued to doubt God even after hearing the plan, surely we would not respond much better. It’s not knowing the plan that gives us peace; it’s trusting in the nature and character of our self-sufficient, all-knowing, all-powerful God that brings us peace. He knows the plan and we can trust Him to lead us as we direct our eyes off ourselves and onto Him.
What will people think of me?
At this point, Moses stops asking questions and just starts making claims: “‘But behold, they will not believe me.’” In his mind, Moses has already answered the paralyzing question, “What will people think?” God responds by equipping Moses with not one, not two, but three signs that he would be able to perform, “that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers…has appeared to [him]” (Exodus 4:5). The Holman Bible Dictionary explains that “the basic nature of a sign is that it points people to God” and so once again God shifts Moses’s eyes off of himself and onto God. The beauty is that in Moses’s insecurities, wondering what people will think and how they will respond, God shows him that Moses doesn’t have to prove himself; God will prove Himself.
When God calls us to trust and follow Him, we can rest in the freedom of knowing that we don’t have to prove ourselves. We don’t have to carry the burden of wondering what people think about us because following Jesus isn’t about our own glory or fame; it’s for His glory and fame. On top of that, our identity and approval comes not from man, but from our God. He calls us holy, blameless, forgiven, and child (Ephesians 1:4-5). Whatever other people may think of you, it cannot shake your true identity in Christ. When we’re caught up with what others think of us, may we fix our eyes on God and His glory and our identity in Him.
What if I’m not “good” enough?
God patiently answers all of Moses’s fears, doubts, and insecurities by repeatedly putting Moses’s attention back on God. Moses, for the final time in this story, responds with another excuse about why he can’t do what God called him to do. Moses is convinced God can’t use him to accomplish such an amazing feat because he is “‘not eloquent…but [he is] slow of speech and tongue” (Exodus 4:10). God responds to Moses, “‘Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?’” (Exodus 4:11). While Moses may have felt like he wasn’t gifted or talented enough to do what God asked, God reminds him that He is sovereign over the way He made him. And God is going to use him nonetheless. The common quote rings true: “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” God moves Moses’s focus off of his own inability and onto the God who made him, equips him, and will work through him.
Friend, do you know Who made you? Do you know Who made you the way you are? When you feel like you are not gifted enough, or don’t have the right attributes or qualifications to be used by God, remember that the God who calls you is also the God who made you. You don’t have to have all the skills, or the all the “right” qualifications to be used by God. You don’t need to be “good” enough, because God is good enough.
The power of God working through you is far greater than any inability you may feel you have. None of us are perfectly gifted or skilled, but God is more than able to use us.
Fixing our eyes on Jesus
Our response to each of these questions must be to fix our eyes on Jesus. Hebrews 12:1-2 exhorts us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.” Jesus was our example of faith-filled obedience. Before He went to the cross He pleaded, “‘Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me,’” yet He still entrusted Himself to the Father and His plan: “‘Yet I want your will to be done, not mine’” (Luke 22:42). He set His eyes on the Father and moved forward in faith-filled obedience to accomplish God’s will, laying down His life for our sake that we may live in relationship with Him. And He did it all out of love. May we take our eyes off of ourselves and fix them on Jesus so that we may adore Him, worship Him, love Him, believe Him, and follow Him.
Prayer:
God, thank you for being a God who chooses to use us despite our flaws. Thank you for leading us, for approving us, and for equipping us to do Your will. May we bring all of our doubts and questions to You, for You are able to handle any question we throw at You. Give us faith and empower us to live in obedience to Your will. Remind us daily to take our eyes off ourselves and to fix them on You! You are all we need.
