When does God put us in positions that utilize our strengths?
You know that feeling when you can say, "yes! I was made to do this!"?
When does God put us in positions where we have to fully rely on HIS ability and not our own? (2 Cor 12:9)
Places where our own capacity is not enough to succeed... Either by past experience we have lost self-esteem or we simply do not have the experience or the confidence required...I think it's both together.
We step outside our comfort zone and God utilizes our individuality in His story-doing things we cannot do on our own. His answer to our doubts, our excuses and all our insufficiencies is, "I will be with you" (Exodus 3:12).
Moses is typically viewed as either a stuttering, angry man wondering through the desert who "missed out" on the promised land OR as a towering giant of the faith who saw great signs and wonders with a touch of his staff.
In reality, Moses had to have felt like an anomaly.
He grew up an Israelite living as a son of Egyptian royalty.
No one else was sharing this experience alongside of him.
While it was wonderful his life was spared, he had to live caught in the middle of the oppressed and the oppressor.
He lived with the family who had originally ordered his death before he even had the chance to breathe.
What was his place? What purpose could be in this position?
If you know the story, you know Moses finally fled Egypt in fear for his life.
He had been caught in the middle for so long!
He finally let out years of anger of watching his blood be abused by his adoptive family.
He fled Egypt and wasn't going back.
Moses found a place of comfort.
He had a family, he was safe out in the desert as a shepherd.
Away from the stress and struggle.
He wasn't enslaved and he wasn't living in luxury with a pagan people either.
Still, God had other plans.
A role for someone with Moses' unique past.
Moses was not confident God was choosing the "right man" for the job.
Like Moses, there are times in life when our own insecurities and self-doubts come and cripple our belief, our desire, our purpose.
Some of us have learned where to stay based on our past experiences, we tried and failed or we trusted and felt let down.
So, we settle in, we settle down - we don't know what greatness could be over the mountain of hardship.
God has a plan to utilize the strengths HE knows we possess while placing us in a circumstance where we must trust in HIM.
If the leader of the Israelites was consumed with his own adequacy, the Israelites would never have made it into the promised land. He would have felt like such a failure when all the people turned against him and blamed him.
If he was "delivering" them for his own glory and acclaim, he would have given up. If he was strong enough in himself, he would not have known the glory of meeting and seeking God.
But Moses was no such man.
He knew his need.
And he got to know his God.
God made covenants with the man Moses. (Exodus 34:10)
Moses saw "He who is invisible" (Hebrews 11)
and his very flesh shone (Exodus 34:29-35).
Even though the attitudes of the people suggested otherwise, God was tangibly/visibly with his people over and over through the desert. And they still doubted him, but Moses remained faithful because God was his only hope. (Heb 11:27).
Even though He struggled with trusting God at times, (Numbers 20:12) he persevered.
At the end of his life, God took him, and he didn't suffer the pain of old age. Burial is an important rite in the Jewish tradition, even though Moses didn't have the ability to be buried with his mother and father as many of our Old Testament heroes desired, God, the Father took him Himself (Deuteronomy 34). 1 Samuel 2:30 "...he who honors me, I will honor".
"Kingdom work is supernatural work, no matter what your calling is. If it doesn't require real faith and a desperate dependence on God, then either it's not God's calling or you don't get it yet...
'God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise;...what is weak in the world to shame the strong;... what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human might boast in the presence of God.' (1 Cor. 1:27-29)
Don't use your weaknesses as an excuse for unbelief. Move forward in faith. God will be with you." - Things Not Seen: A Fresh Look at Old Stories of Trusting God's Promises, Jon Bloom
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