“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. But his Lord answered and said to Him, “You wicked and lazy servant…” Matthew 25:24-26a (NKJV)
“If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body’ is it therefore not of the body?” -I Cor. 12:15 (NJKV)
“What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to His voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” -I Sam. 15:22 NLT
“…Perfect love casts out fear. …We love Him because He first loved us.” -I John 4:18,19 (NKJV)
I’ve been thinking a lot about insecurity, fear, and inferiority lately. Each of them defines themselves and their response to life and circumstances by what they are not. “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body.” Hear the echo of inferiority and insecurity?
Take a poll of who has struggled with fear, insecurity, and inferiority in their lives and you will get a response real close to 100%. It seems to be “normal” to the human condition!
Look at the interaction between God and seemingly everyone He calls… He usually starts it with “fear not”, and then much of the rest of the dialog is spent with hapless (but privileged!) “callee” giving excuses why they are a nobody from a family of nobodies that really doesn’t have what it takes and why don’t you choose somebody else, etc. etc. Sound familiar?!? God tells Joshua to “Be strong and of good courage!” Why? Because Joshua is feeling weak and scared out of his wits!! It’s “normal”!
And for those who seem to have a case of arrogance and over-confidence (see Moses before the dessert and Peter before the crucifixion) they quickly get the stuffin’ knocked out of them and are back to making excuses as to why God can’t use them.
God is not put off by my weakness and fear! In fact, He delights to work in and through me in spite of them to show Himself strong on behalf of people that He loves. It’s OK to be scared! It’s OK to feel weak and insecure! So did most of the “heroes” of faith in Scripture.
***It’s OK to be afraid. But it’s not OK to disobey. It’s not OK to pull back. It’s not OK to say “No Lord, I won’t because I’m scared.”***
The Lord is stirring my heart strongly in this area right now. I have seen that I tend to “accept” or even “coddle” my own disobedience when I am frightened or insecure, giving myself a “pass” as it were. I rightfully pull back from arrogance and embrace humility, but I must NOT use false humility as a cloak for timidity and justify my disobedience. Disobedience is disobedience, whether it is rooted in arrogance or fear. And humility is NOT timidity.
In the parable of the talents it is the “small” one (who their Lord wants to make large!) who buries their talent, having believed a lie about the character of the King that was based on half-truths. He is called a “wicked and lazy servant”. Today we would want to coddle him and say he had a self-esteem problem and just needed to be built up so he would have more confidence.
And yet, we DO need to be built up and have more confidence… don’t we? Or maybe that’s what we have thought we needed when we actually need something else? Perhaps what we need isn’t more confidence, but more of seeing God for who He really is and then choosing to trust Him AND OBEY. God isn’t bothered by our smallness or our weaknesses or our insecurity. In fact it seems He delights to use us at that point! It IS our choice to not trust and then disobey that “bothers” Him and turns out to be spiritually deadly.
Bottom line for me? Don’t use my fears and insecurities as rationalizations for not stepping out in obedience to God. How about you?
Trusting & Obeying, Pastor Tom
“If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body’ is it therefore not of the body?” -I Cor. 12:15 (NJKV)
“What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to His voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” -I Sam. 15:22 NLT
“…Perfect love casts out fear. …We love Him because He first loved us.” -I John 4:18,19 (NKJV)
I’ve been thinking a lot about insecurity, fear, and inferiority lately. Each of them defines themselves and their response to life and circumstances by what they are not. “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body.” Hear the echo of inferiority and insecurity?
Take a poll of who has struggled with fear, insecurity, and inferiority in their lives and you will get a response real close to 100%. It seems to be “normal” to the human condition!
Look at the interaction between God and seemingly everyone He calls… He usually starts it with “fear not”, and then much of the rest of the dialog is spent with hapless (but privileged!) “callee” giving excuses why they are a nobody from a family of nobodies that really doesn’t have what it takes and why don’t you choose somebody else, etc. etc. Sound familiar?!? God tells Joshua to “Be strong and of good courage!” Why? Because Joshua is feeling weak and scared out of his wits!! It’s “normal”!
And for those who seem to have a case of arrogance and over-confidence (see Moses before the dessert and Peter before the crucifixion) they quickly get the stuffin’ knocked out of them and are back to making excuses as to why God can’t use them.
God is not put off by my weakness and fear! In fact, He delights to work in and through me in spite of them to show Himself strong on behalf of people that He loves. It’s OK to be scared! It’s OK to feel weak and insecure! So did most of the “heroes” of faith in Scripture.
***It’s OK to be afraid. But it’s not OK to disobey. It’s not OK to pull back. It’s not OK to say “No Lord, I won’t because I’m scared.”***
The Lord is stirring my heart strongly in this area right now. I have seen that I tend to “accept” or even “coddle” my own disobedience when I am frightened or insecure, giving myself a “pass” as it were. I rightfully pull back from arrogance and embrace humility, but I must NOT use false humility as a cloak for timidity and justify my disobedience. Disobedience is disobedience, whether it is rooted in arrogance or fear. And humility is NOT timidity.
In the parable of the talents it is the “small” one (who their Lord wants to make large!) who buries their talent, having believed a lie about the character of the King that was based on half-truths. He is called a “wicked and lazy servant”. Today we would want to coddle him and say he had a self-esteem problem and just needed to be built up so he would have more confidence.
And yet, we DO need to be built up and have more confidence… don’t we? Or maybe that’s what we have thought we needed when we actually need something else? Perhaps what we need isn’t more confidence, but more of seeing God for who He really is and then choosing to trust Him AND OBEY. God isn’t bothered by our smallness or our weaknesses or our insecurity. In fact it seems He delights to use us at that point! It IS our choice to not trust and then disobey that “bothers” Him and turns out to be spiritually deadly.
Bottom line for me? Don’t use my fears and insecurities as rationalizations for not stepping out in obedience to God. How about you?
Trusting & Obeying, Pastor Tom
