The fear of inadequacy is a state of mind when you think your best is not good enough. It often started in childhood when our parents, teachers, and others we considered important, failed to appreciate and affirm us or compared us negatively to someone else. You’ll see it from Moses, who felt inadequate to be the spokesman and liberator for the Israelites, to the late pop star Michael Jackson, who made huge efforts reach physical and professional perfection. No statistics can measure the number of dreams that have been abandoned because of this emotion. To rid yourself of it, you need to try and embrace these two truths: 1) Without God, you are inadequate. 2) Infused with God’s strength, you’re adequate to any challenge He calls you to face. Paul writes: ‘Not that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God. [It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as ministers…of a new covenant’ (vv. 5-6 AMPC). Many of the heroes in the Bible struggled with the fear of inadequacy, so you’re not alone! Moses told God, ‘I can’t go and talk to Pharaoh, send someone else’ (see Exodus 3:11; 4:13). The real story of these Bible heroes is that they didn’t let their fear rule them, and they said yes to God. They stepped out in faith and said in essence, ‘Lord, I am depending on you for my success.’ Our human ego likes to look good and claim the credit. But God puts us into a position of dependence on Him so that the credit for our success goes to Him – and that makes an amazing testimony for our lives!
