Ill Equiped for the Job

 

Ill Equipped for the Job

By Darla Kinion

August 23, 2020

 

How many times have you felt that God was asking you to do something that didn’t fall into your comfort zone?  To either say something to someone, do something for someone?

You know something you would not really ever do.

And your first thought was, “Uh, yeah, no!  I am not going to do that.  I would not even know where to start.”  You probably think that you are the only one that has ever felt that way.  I am here to tell you that you are wrong!

We are studying different books in the Bible.  Today we studied about Esther.

Now, as a little girl I often referred to the book of Esther as the “Beauty Pageant” book.  It was that but that is such a miniscule part of what that book is.

We all know of the girl, Cassie Bernal, at Columbine High School, that when she was asked if she believed in God, she boldly declared “YES” and was shot for her faith.  She was martyred.

The scripture kept coming up as I recall, “For such a time as this.”

For such a time as this.  That phrase is in the Bible a lot.  You ask me where?  Ok, well you got me there.  It isn’t quite worded that way.  Mostly it reads, “And it just so happened.”  We have all read that in there.  Think of all the Bible stories that you read that have that in them.  It translates into “for such a time as this.”

Well that scripture comes up when we read about Esther.  Her Uncle Mordecai tried to persuade her with those words to go to the King and plead for the Jews, her people.  That perhaps she had won the “Beauty Contest”, for such a time as this.

I am sure those words were not comforting.  You see, just because she was in the palace and she was by all rights the Queen, she held no prestige or honorable place.  She was a woman.

She felt ill equipped for the job.

Now you might think, well, in Bible days that would be about right.  No one would have expected her to step up and be courageous.  So, we justify it.

I can pretty much guarantee it, that in this day and age, especially here in the United States, that if you were to say, “Well, she’s a girl, so we don’t expect her to be courageous, or be equipped to get the job done, that any girl would do everything in her power to prove you absolutely wrong.  We attribute her lack of courage as to being a woman.  But God, didn’t see it that way.

But I also want you to realize that Esther was not the only person in the Bible to realize or believe that she was ill equipped for the calling that God had for her.

There were several men in the Bible that had the same identity crisis.

I am just going to pick on a few.

Let’s start with Moses.  Now we all know who Moses was.  He was a Jew that had been raised as an Egyptian.  Adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter.  Two heritages that were against each other.

God placed a call on Moses.  There are a lot of “for such a time as this” moments in this story.

One of the first ones is Miriam, his sister.  For such a time as this she was watching her baby brother in the very river that Pharaoh’s daughter would be bathing.  For such a time as this, he was raised in the Pharaoh’s palace.  He was a learned man with all the niceties that could be bestowed upon him.

But he messed up and had to flee for his life while his people stayed in exile.  But God had a plan.  He always does.  He planned for Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Moses, with all of his learning, felt ill equipped.  He stuttered and felt that God could surely use someone else to do this job.  But God had already planned on Moses.  He was there for such a time as this.

How about Gideon.  You know that God had a plan for Gideon.  He was a prophet.  He was a man of little faith.  Have you ever known someone that could talk the talk but didn’t walk the walk?  That was Gideon.

He just couldn’t understand why God would call his timid little self to lead an army of men that would be able to defeat an even greater army.   But God had placed Gideon at just the right place at just the right time. 

Let’s talk about David.  Yes, the one that would be King.  I am sure that if you have ever read the Psalm’s you would see that there were plenty of times that he felt that he was ill equipped.

But God had a plan.  God had a master plan.

We can look at these few people and see where they are coming from.

Those were pretty big callings on just a handful of people.

But we forget that God doesn’t look at things the way we do.

When we see a woman that would be afraid to go see her husband, the king, who held her very life in his hands, God sees a heroine.  A mighty woman of God that said “If I die, I die.”  And she stepped into her calling!

When we look at a man that stutters and feels inept in his speech.   Afraid to go to Pharaoh and plead for his people to be set free, God sees a mighty leader.  A man that would watch over and guide a multitude of people and take them to the land that was promised them.  He stepped into his calling!

When we look at Gideon, a prophet that would proudly proclaim God to a people but then not trust the very things’ he was telling them to be true, basically a coward, a timid little man.  But God proclaimed him to be a Mighty Man of Valor!  He took down an opposing Army with only 300 men.  He stepped into his calling!

When we look at David, a boy who would be king, and see that he had his downfalls.  He felt like he probably should not be King.  How could he lead a country when the king of that country was constantly trying to kill him?  He felt like he was ill equipped to do the job.  But God had placed him there to become the Godly leader that Israel needed.  When we saw a shepherd boy, God saw a King!  He stepped into his calling!

Each one of these people were born in a place and time unto their calling.  God had a plan for them.  Each of them.  Just like He has for each of us.  He has a call on all of our lives. 

Am I going to say that you might become a heroine like Esther, a leader like Moses, a Warrior like Gideon or even a King like David, who knows, perhaps?

But maybe, just maybe, He is calling you to be a Sunday School teacher, a missionary, a pastor, the person who serves communion, the one that writes letters to the shut-ins, the one that heads up the food bank, the one who takes care of the nursery.  Maybe you are the one that leads song service, sets up a neighborhood watch, the one who finds out which of your friends or neighbors is in need and you find a way to fulfill that need.  Maybe you are going to be called to buy a hamburger for a homeless person, maybe you are called to open your house to have home Bible studies, maybe you are called into politics (much, much prayers for you if that is your calling).

What I am trying to say, you were born for such a time as this!  “This” being whatever it is that God places in your heart and your mind and your life to do.

He never places a calling on you that He will not see you through it.

He has placed a call on all of us! 

Are you going to be willing to step into your calling? 

He will not leave you ill equipped!