Nearly the entire journey of my adult life has been driven by feeling inadequate. Needing to be a “somebody” motivated nearly my entire adult life. I was constantly riddled by anxiety about what other people thought. I was controlled by people who tried to put me down in order to make themselves look better. I was manipulated by others who knew I lacked confidence. I prostrated myself for people I thought could make me feel more adequate. I was a slave to my need to be valued. Yet no matter how much I accomplished or how much I improved myself, I still was never enough.
The problem was not that I lacked the ability to be respected and valued. The problem was that I was dipping into the wrong well to get it. No one else can give our soul value like God does because no one has His nature and attributes. No one is faithful like He is.
My friend, it wasn’t until I discovered that I was truly inadequate without God—that I actually became confident.
Paul the Apostle wrote:
“I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:12-13
How could Paul have the confidence to write “I can do ALL things” from a prison cell? How could he have that confidence when he was hungry, beaten and suffering nearly to death on multiple occasions? He did not look for his confidence from the Roman government or the Jewish religious order he had grown up in.
I suspect that no one reading this devotional has been stoned, shipwrecked or falsely imprisoned like Paul. So think about this—are your circumstances, whatever they may be—holding you back from living what you believe to be a glorious life? My friend, no circumstance on this earth can defeat God’s purpose for you.
Only you can do that.
But feelings of inadequacy do not disappear overnight. The need to be accepted, popular, and well-liked is ingrained in us from the time we are young, and that need is rooted deep in our subconscious. But these feelings do not have to control our life.
In Christ, we can be supremely confident.
God is never inadequate. He achieves more in one minute than one of us will achieve in our entire lifetime. He lives outside of time and space. He loves more than we can imagine. He is more supremely powerful than anyone we know. God is not afraid. He is not manipulated.
When God is the LORD of our life and we allow Him to rule our thoughts, our words, and our actions—we recognize the amazing opportunity we have been given to live in the great confidence of His presence. We are not focused upon our obvious inadequacies. Ah yes, we know that we are completely inadequate without Him to give us the breath we just drew into our lungs. But He has promised those who have been born into His family that He will never leave us or forsake us!
Remember what God told the Apostle Paul when he begged God to take away his thorn in the flesh?
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
And Paul responded:
“Therefore most gladly I will rather BOAST in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10
