21 Days of Prayer - PersevereSample

When You Feel Unqualified

Have you ever felt unqualified? Maybe it’s a lack of experience or education. Perhaps it’s a physical or mental ailment that makes you feel behind. Regardless of what it is, we all have felt unqualified for something at some point in our lives.

Moses, our character focus for today, knows a lot about feeling unqualified. Moses’s story can be found in Exodus through Deuteronomy, and during his time on the pages of Scripture, he experienced a lot. Pharaoh’s daughter adopted Moses, and he grew up in the palace of the Egyptians, though he was a Hebrew by birth. One day, he observed that an Egyptian man was beating a Hebrew, and Moses killed the Egyptian. Terrified, he escaped to the wilderness. It’s there that he encountered God. There is much more to Moses’s story than we will unpack today, so let’s focus on Exodus 3.

God tells Moses that He has heard his people’s cries and is sending him to Pharaoh to bring His people out of Egypt (Exodus 3:10). Following this direction, you’d think Moses would be filled with confidence. Out of all the people God could have chosen, He chose him!

However, Moses’s reply is less than excited. When God told him He chose him to lead his people out of Egypt, Moses responded, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

Instead of believing in the calling God had given him, Moses questioned his identity. In response to this question, God responds with five words: “I will be with you.”

What I love about these verses is that God doesn’t respond to Moses’s insecurity by telling him good things about himself. God responds to Moses’s insecurity by reaffirming who He is. It doesn’t matter if Moses doesn’t think he’s good enough. It doesn’t matter if Moses thinks he’s unqualified. Because God is with him, he will succeed.

The same is true with us. Even when we think we are unqualified, if we are pursuing what God has called us to, it doesn’t matter. If God is with us, we will succeed. He doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called. Persevere through the doubt and insecurity, and see how God shows up on the other side!

Emily N. Green

Prayer Point: Why do you feel unqualified? Pray about these things and ask God to remind you about what He thinks of you.