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Overcoming An Unqualified Mindset
Part One: An Unqualified Opinion
Have you ever felt unqualified for something that God told you to do?
You’re certainly not the first. In the book of Exodus, Moses told God multiple times that he was unqualified for the tasks God was calling him to. Standing in front of the burning bush – a physical manifestation of the presence of God that was commanding him to serve as God’s mouthpiece to the Israelites and to Pharaoh – Moses replied that he was not qualified to speak because of his lack of eloquence and speech impediment.
In fact, despite being reassured of his purpose by God and receiving a promise that God would help him speak and teach him what to say, Moses still requested that God choose someone else several times – all because of his feelings of inadequacy. (Exodus 4:11-14, Exodus 6:28) In Exodus 4:14 God even became angry with Moses because of his lack of trust in Him. Moses must have been overwhelmed by the emotions he was experiencing in order to risk the wrath of God. Fortunately, God was gracious and merciful to him and allowed him another source of help in the form of Aaron.
Emotions are a powerful thing. Our worldly society is constantly bombarding us with reminders to “follow your heart.” This advice is spiritually dangerous! Jeremiah 17:9 says that our hearts (and emotions) are deceitful. Our feelings can lead us astray. We are meant to be led by the Holy Spirit, not by our own human heart. Our hearts must come under the authority of the Holy Spirit. The Word of God reminds us to commit our hearts to Him and act in submission to Him. (Proverbs 3:5-6) Our actions should be in response to God’s leading. Our emotions should be secondary to our faith. When we allow emotions like fear to gain importance over our faith, our response to the call of God can be manipulated and it results in disobedience to God.
Moses didn’t doubt there was a God who was capable of the miraculous. The bush was physical proof of it! However, Moses as not only willing to go against the plan of God and step outside of His will, he was willing to risk God’s anger because of his feelings of inadequacy.
Moses almost disqualified himself from God’s plan by operating from a mindset of being unqualified! Talk about powerful emotion! The power that Moses gave to his feelings of inadequacy almost stopped him from fulfilling God’s purpose for him. His feeling led to a desire to rebel against the command God was giving him.
The same can happen in our own lives. Feelings of inadequacy can cause us to rebel against a command from God, even when we know without a doubt that God Himself is telling us to do it. There are 2 reasons that feeling unqualified get in the way of obedience to God’s command: It’s either a head problem or a heart problem.
~Dana Smith