Inadequacy "Fear of Inadequacy" 1-26-25
Overview
Facing the Fear of Inadequacy
When God called Moses from the burning bush to confront Pharaoh and lead Israel out of Egypt, Moses responded with a question that resonates deeply with our own hearts: "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" Exodus 3:11. This is the fear of inadequacy—the gnawing sense that the task before us is bigger than we are. Moses pressed the point further, worrying the people wouldn't believe him Exodus 4:1, protesting that he was "slow of speech and slow of tongue" Exodus 4:10, and finally pleading, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else" Exodus 4:13.
Moses is not alone in Scripture. Gideon protested that his clan was the weakest and he the least in his family Judges 6:15. Saul pointed to his small tribe and humble family 1 Samuel 9:21. Jeremiah objected, "I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth" Jeremiah 1:6. The spies sent into Canaan returned trembling: "We seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers" Numbers 13:33. When difficulties pile up, when relationships strain, when situations exceed our capacity, no pep talk in the bathroom mirror can paper over the truth: we really are not enough.
How do we overcome the fear of inadequacy? Surprisingly, by accepting it. God uses the law to expose our complete inability to save ourselves—our salvation is not a scale weighing good deeds against bad, but a verdict that drives us to the cross. Thanks be to God that the spotless Lamb has borne our sin, that the tomb is empty, and that we have been claimed in the waters of baptism. In the same way, God uses problems, situations, relationships, and people to reveal our smallness so that He might lead us into deeper dependence on Him. The fear of inadequacy grows when we try to live on our own adequacy.
Notice what met Moses when he rose to the level of his inadequacy: a promise. "I will be with you" Exodus 3:12. That promise meets us, too. Paul writes that God "is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us" Ephesians 3:20-21—and the glory belongs to Him, not to us. So when you face a challenge that is genuinely beyond you, stop arguing with the evidence. Acknowledge that you are inadequate, and then receive what God supplies: His presence, His power, and His promise to accomplish more than you can imagine. Fear not—He is our adequacy.
Transcript
And you open your Bibles, please, with me to the Book of Exodus, the 3rd chapter for our 3s
study today for using a Pue edition of Holy Scripture. 9s
You'll find in front of you in the Pue rack or underneath the Pue, you'll find the 3rd 13s
chapter of Exodus on page 47 in the Old Testament, page 47. 17s
We continue today our series entitled Fearless, overcoming fear in the new year. 24s
Fear can be so very crippling, can't it, in our lives. 32s
In fact, that's what we had talked about in the very first week of this series, the crippling, 38s
crippling nature of fear. 44s
We then talked about the fear of not knowing what to do, not knowing God's will. 47s
We talked last week about the fear of change. 55s
We heard the gracious word of Scripture that the unchangeable God grasps us. 60s
Well, in the weeks ahead, we're going to talk about the fear of not being liked. 69s
We're going to talk about the fear of being alone, the fear of death, the fear of 76s
wondering whether or not you are saved. 84s
But today, today I want to focus on a fear that we see manifest in the life of Moses. 88s
The story of Moses is a fascinating one, isn't it? 102s
Moses was protected as a baby for the safety of his own life. 107s
He was found by the daughter of Pharaoh. 113s
He was raised in the palace. 116s
But the Bible tells us that one day Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, a kin's folk. 118s
And Moses killed the Egyptian. 127s
That occasion, the absolute wrath of Pharaoh. 134s
And Moses became a fugitive. 138s
He went from living in the palace to tending sheep. 142s
But God was not done with Moses. 150s
God came to Moses in a bush that was burning, but was not consumed. 156s
And look at chapter three, please, verse seven. 163s
Then the Lord said, I've observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt. 168s
I've heard their cry on account of their task masters. 173s
Indeed, I know their sufferings. 177s
And I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land. 180s
The land flowing with milk and honey to the country of the keenonites, the hithites, the amorites, the parasites, the hyvites and the jibisites. 190s
The cry of the Israelites has now come to me. 202s
I have also seen how the Egyptians oppressed them. 206s
So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. 210s
We have an incredible call. 221s
That indeed, God is called by God to lead the people out from underneath the hand of an oppressive 224s
Pharaoh, a Pharaoh that had enslaved them, freeing them. 231s
This was the fulfillment of the covenant all the way back into Genesis with Abraham and Sarah. 238s
Remember, the acronym you can use for it is law, bland offspring and blessing. 245s
That was the promise of God. 249s
Indeed, God would would bless with offspring. 251s
Out of that offspring would come the Messiah. 255s
It would be a blessing to the world and as part of that covenant, the people would be given land. 259s
And Moses is called by God here. Moses 267s
to lead the people out of Egypt toward the promise land. 273s
And Moses' response looked please at verse 11. 283s
who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? 295s
What is response? 309s
The fear of inadequacy. 313s
The fear of inadequacy. 319s
Well, as one turns the pages of Scripture, we see several examples of the fear of simply being 327s
inadequate. 335s
The fear of being inadequate. 336s
In adequate. 338s
For example, I think of Gideon in Judges, the sixth chapter, God had commissioned Gideon for the 338s
Gideon's response is, but sir, how can I deliver Israel? 347s
My clan is the weakest in Vanessa. 355s
And I am the least in my family, the fear of inadequacy. 358s
Or their Saul, Samilo is communicating to Saul of a special plan that God has 367s
for him. 376s
Remember, Saul becomes the first king. 377s
And Saul's reaction here? 381s
I'm only a Benjaminite from the least of the tribes of Israel. 385s
And my family is the humblest of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin. 390s
Why then have you spoken to me this way? 397s
That's the fear of inadequacy. 402s
Or the prophet Jeremiah. 409s
Jeremiah responds and says, Oh Lord, God, truly I do not know how to speak for I am only a boy. 412s
That's the fear of inadequacy. 420s
How about just one more in the list? 423s
How about the spies that are sent into the promised land? 425s
The scripture tells us in numbers the 13th chapter. 430s
They come back with a report and they say, We're not able to go up against this people. 434s
For their stronger than we are. 442s
They go on to say, The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants. 444s
And all the people that we saw in it are of great size. 453s
They go on. To ourselves, we seemed like a grasshoppers and so we seemed to them. 457s
That's the fear of inadequacy. 469s
So let me ask, Do you ever fear? 478s
Do you ever fear being an adequate? 484s
For a task? For a situation? 487s
You ever have that fear? 492s
So it's times when difficulties come along and you think to yourself, This is way beyond me. 496s
It's those times when challenges come along and maybe challenges just pile upon challenges. 509s
And do you think yourself, How on the world am I going to deal with this? 515s
It's those times when situations come and you look at yourself and you say, I don't measure up to this. 521s
I don't measure up to this. 531s
It's those times that no pep talk from anybody is going to do any good. 534s
And those self pep talks into the bathroom mirror when you're telling yourself how wonderful you are. 541s
And how strong you are to be able to handle this situation. And let's go get it and let's handle the situation. 549s
That doesn't work at all. Have you ever had those times of the fear of an adequacy? 558s
So how do you overcome it? How do you overcome the fear of an adequacy? How do you overcome it? 566s
Well, how about just accepting that you are? 584s
How about just accepting that you are inadequate? 594s
Chapter three, verse 11 again. 612s
But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? 615s
Go now, please, to chapter four, verse one. 624s
Then Moses answered, but suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, the Lord did not appear to you. 629s
Go down to verse 10, please. But Moses said the Lord, 639s
Oh, my Lord, I have never been eloquent. Neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your 646s
servant, but I'm slow of speech and slow of tongue. Chapter four, verse 13. 655s
But he said, Oh, my Lord, please send someone else. 664s
Honest assessment. Honest assessment of Moses. He wasn't adequate, right? He was. 677s
Who wouldn't be? 688s
All right, honest assessment now of ourselves. Those times when we feel inadequate, 692s
probably it's because we're inadequate, right? 706s
The times that we fear that we're going to be inadequate for a task of challenge of difficulty, 714s
it's probably because we are inadequate. God uses things to reveal our inadequacy. 721s
He uses, for example, the law to reveal our inadequacy in terms of saving ourselves. 743s
The law comes and confronts us with the reality of our sinfulness. 753s
And there's no amount of good things that we can do to overcome our sinfulness. You see, the law comes 760s
and reveals to us that it's not a scale. And as long as the scale weighs better, less, 767s
bad and more good, both in your end. No, the law reveals to us that it is absolutely impossible for 773s
us to redeem ourselves. The law reveals to us that we sin against him and thought, word, indeed, 781s
what we've done, what we've left undone. The law reveals to us that left to ourselves, 788s
what it is that we deserve is hell itself. The law comes and reveals to us our absolute 793s
inadequacy to redeem ourselves. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God for the gospel of the Lord 803s
uses Christ, that on the cross our sins have been attuned for, that the spotless sinless lamb of God 815s
has borne upon himself on the cross, all of our sin passed in present and future, and that we 824s
had been washed clean through the blood of Christ, that the tomb is empty and were claimed as his 832s
own in the waters of baptism. Thanks be to God that in the reality of our inadequacy to save 840s
ourselves, God has saved us. God uses the law, the law to reveal our inadequacy to save ourselves. 849s
God also uses problems. He uses situations. He uses relationships. He uses people. He uses 862s
all of that to reveal our inadequacy. The times when we feel like we're inadequate, 871s
because we probably are. In God uses the difficulties and the situations to reveal our need 886s
for dependency, he reveals to us our inadequacy so that he might lead us into greater and greater 901s
dependency. See, what is it that we discover? We discover that when we fear being inadequate, 913s
it is because we're trying to live on our own adequacy. Moses rose to the level of his inadequacy. 926s
When that call came from God and God says, you're the one Moses that's going to lead the people out of 940s
Egypt. Moses immediately rose to the level of his inadequacy. And what was he met with at that 947s
intersection of his calling, his task, the challenge, what was he met with? As he rose to the level of 956s
inadequacy, what he was met with, he was met with a promise. Look, please, at verse 12, chapter 3. 964s
God said, I will be with you. And this shall be the sign for you. That it is I who sent to you. 974s
When you have been brought, when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this 985s
mountain. When he rose to the level of his inadequacy, God meets him with a promise. 993s
Us too. Us too. Do you come here today? And you've got a situation, you've got a relationship, 1008s
you've got a difficulty, and you're fearful of being inadequate. 1022s
Do you come here today with the challenge with a difficulty with the relationship? And you say, 1032s
this, this is beyond me. It's beyond me. Life has a way of bringing about those situations. 1039s
Life has a way of bringing about those times. When we feel like we have risen to the level of our 1052s
inadequacy. And what is it that we discover at that moment? 1061s
When instead of trying to convince ourselves that we're adequate, we accept the fact that we're not 1072s
what do we discover? We discover the promises. When we rise to the level of our inadequacy, God meets us with his promises. 1083s
I think of one of them, Ephesians, the third chapter, Paul writes this. 1105s
Now to him, God, who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly 1114s
far more than all we can ask or imagine to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus 1124s
to all generations forever and ever. You guess the depth of that? Now to him who by the power 1134s
at work within us, and I catch this, is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask 1143s
or imagine to him be glory. That God is at work. When we rise to the level of our inadequacy, 1153s
here comes the promise and God is at work to accomplish far more than we can even imagine or think. 1166s
And to whose glory is his glory, not our glory, his glory. Beloved of God, fear not, 1174s
fear not being inadequate. 1196s
Accept it. Fear not, for he is our 1207s
أ rhetie 1220s