Page 45 - The Divine Quest

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the wise.

God has taken someone who could not even say his name in public and He has
called me to publicly proclaim the word of God. This I have done now from my
early twenties and God has used my own insecurity to cause me to cast myself upon
Him for His strength, His enabling, and His ability to have His word proclaimed.
I have often stood upon God’s own words to Moses, “Did I not create man’s lips? I
will be with your mouth and give you the words to speak.” In our weakness we look
to the promises of God and we press into them and rely heavily upon them. It is
then that we see His power manifested.

Like Paul, I would rather boast about my weakness in order to magnify the grace of
God that is available to all of the saints. In the previous chapter on hearing God I
shared how vital it is to hear the voice of God to both direct our steps and to give us
confirmations along the way. Gideon had no confidence in himself, nor in the
Israelites’ ability to defeat their foes. Because of this he asked for a number of
confirmations to God’s will, and he received them. When God first called me to step
out from wage earning and to trust Him for our provision, I asked Him for so many
confirmations that I became ashamed to ask for more. Yet He was patient with me
and gave me all the confirmation I needed.

I would not have anyone to receive the impression that God chose me for some
inherent strength in me. He did not choose me because He knew He could speak a
word of direction to me one time and I would go forth fearlessly with no anxiety or
shadow of doubt. I have needed many assurances, and He has walked with me as a
father would walk with a small child, holding my hand and speaking words of
comfort to me all along the way.

This has also been how He has walked with those men and women in the Bible who
we view as the champions of faith. Moses is revered today, as he has been for
thousands of years, for the mighty power of God that was demonstrated through him.
Yet by his own confession he could not even speak. He tried to convince Yahweh that
He had called the wrong man. I find great comfort in this, for at times I have felt the
same way. In the writing “The Lion, the Bear and Goliath” I wrote some about the
men God has chosen to display His power through.

We sometimes have a view of certain Biblical personalities as being cut from a
different mold than us. We think they were not beset with our petty weaknesses of
the flesh, with doubts, fears, and uncertainty. In thinking this we actually make
things more difficult for ourselves because when we find these weaknesses resident
in our frame we become convinced that we are not cut from the same cloth as the