Such confidence we have through Christ before God.
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
2 Corinthians 3.4,5
Kent Hughes recalls a pastor friend saying:
"Many strong men have tried and been unable to continue. If ever there was a chance to prove that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness and that when we are weak we are strong, this was it. The Lord had the strength and I had the weakness so we teamed up! It is an unbeatable combination."
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Moses’ unparalleled leadership proved that in spite of his natural insufficiency, God made him sufficient. This pattern (human insufficiency — divine sufficiency) became the pattern for the calls of the great prophets of Israel. Gideon’s insufficiency (“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house,” Judges 6:15), was met with the Lord’s sufficiency (“And the LORD said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man,’” v. 16). Isaiah’s insufficiency (“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!,”Isaiah 6:5), was countered by one of the Lord’s seraphim bearing a burning coal with which he touched Isaiah’s mouth (cf. vv. 6, 7). Jeremiah’s insufficiency (“Ah, LORD GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth,” Jeremiah 1:6) was allayed by the Lord (“But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a youth”; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak,’” v. 7). Ezekiel’s innate sense of insufficiency was remedied by a vision of the glory of the Lord when the awesome wheels within wheels “full of eyes all around” approached his prostrate body, and God commanded him to stand, speak his words, and eat the scroll (cf. Ezekiel 1:1 — 3:11). When God’s call came, human insufficiency became the ground of God’s sufficiency.
So we see that if the Lord called Moses despite his inarticulateness, then no one can claim the prophets’ excuses (Gideon’s military weakness, Isaiah’s sin, Jeremiah’s youth, or Ezekiel’s trepidation), or the weaknesses we may offer, as valid reasons to duck God’s respective call.
Like Moses and the Old Testament prophets after him, Paul also was made “sufficient in spite of insufficiency by the grace of God” (Hafemann). This universal principle has been the experience of God’s choice servants — for example, Hudson Taylor who wrote, “God chose me because I was weak enough. God does not do his work by large committees. He trains somebody to be quiet enough, and little enough, and then uses him.” Paul’s insufficiency provided the ground for God’s grace.
So we see that if the Lord called Moses despite his inarticulateness, then no one can claim the prophets’ excuses (Gideon’s military weakness, Isaiah’s sin, Jeremiah’s youth, or Ezekiel’s trepidation), or the weaknesses we may offer, as valid reasons to duck God’s respective call.
Like Moses and the Old Testament prophets after him, Paul also was made “sufficient in spite of insufficiency by the grace of God” (Hafemann). This universal principle has been the experience of God’s choice servants — for example, Hudson Taylor who wrote, “God chose me because I was weak enough. God does not do his work by large committees. He trains somebody to be quiet enough, and little enough, and then uses him.” Paul’s insufficiency provided the ground for God’s grace.
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