I Feel Inadequate, and Yet I Must Lead – What Do I Do?

Very few days pass that I actually feel like I know what I am doing. As a pastor… as a parent… as a leader… I rarely feel equipped to accomplish the job. Yet, here I sit with a life full of blessings. Wow, God is good! 

When the feelings of insecurity and inadequacy creep in, let’s remember that we are actually right where God wants us. Not that God desires for us to lack confidence or faith or poise, but rather it is in our weakness that His strength is magnified. 

Moses stood on that rocky mountainside staring at God in a bush and admitted the very things that most of us have felt many times before. “I’m not sure I can do this!” If that is you, have peace. God has a plan and the power to use you, despite your feelings. Below are three ways we often relate to Moses and three ways to overcome our feelings of inadequacy. 

Three ways we often relate to Moses

1. Focusing on our lack. It is easy to focus on what we seem to lack—skills, experience, charm, wisdom, righteousness… This list can go on and on. There is always something we think we need more of to accomplish the task. 

“I am not a good speaker.” (Exodus 4:10) – Physical limitations

“They will not listen to me.” (Exodus 4:1) – Leadership and authority

“What shall I say?” (Exodus 3:13) – Knowledge and wisdom

Your list of “lacks” may be the same or completely different from Moses’. Whatever the case, they aren’t any more of an obstacle for God to use you than they were for God to use Moses. 

2. Focusing on our past. Fear is often the greatest motivator for our feeling of inadequacy. What if I fail? Moses was coming to the mountain after years of tending sheep in the wilderness. Why? Because of his failure in Egypt. Moses had “skeletons” in the closet. He had done things he wasn’t proud of. He was a man who had made mistakes. Moses had a past. Yet, God said “I want to use you to free my people.” (Exodus 3:10)

How is your past impacting your confidence for the future? Did you fail last time? Did you stumble and make mistakes? Did you disappoint others? Are you focusing on regret, fear, and wounds from your past? 

God does not let our past completely disqualify us from being used in the future.

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).  

3. Focusing on others. In the age of social media it is really easy to fall into the temptation of comparing ourselves to others. Parenting, preaching, leading… it seems like everyone else is doing it better. Perhaps the greatest weakness many leaders face is focusing too much on expectations (from others and themselves) rather than God Himself. 

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” (Exodus 3:11)

“Please send someone else.” (Exodus 4:13)

Moses didn’t think he was good enough. He probably could have made a list of people he thought were far more capable of doing the job. And yet that is not how God works. When God calls you to a task, He plans to use you. His call isn’t a mistake or a back-up plan; rather it’s His perfect plan to accomplish His will in the situation through you.

Don’t let the skills or success of others intimidate you into believing you can’t accomplish what God has called you to. 

Three ways we overcome the feeling of inadequacy

1. Embrace your inadequacy. We tend to think of weakness as an abnormality in life. A problem we need to overcome. However, from the Christian perspective, weakness is normal. It is expected. We are all fallen and weak in our own strength. Instead of crafting an outward image of control and false confidence, go to God for strength. Seek Him and depend on Him to overcome the obstacles of inadequacy. It is through Christ that we rise above the weakness and succeed. 

The apostle Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.“

2. Embrace God’s Sufficiency. When confronted with feelings of inadequacy, we can take hold of the sufficiency of Christ’s promises. Like Paul, we can delight in our weakness, for it is the opportunity for God to prove Himself strong in us, if we turn to Him in faith. 

God longs to meet us at the place where we have reached the end of our abilities. The moments when we have exhausted our own strength and have nothing left. That’s where He can do His best work—in your weakness. He doesn’t use super strong, self-assertive, self-centered people. He uses the weak, the trembling, the inadequate, and the ill-equipped. [1] God is more than sufficient, and He will prove that in your weakness. 

3. Step out in faith. We often defeat our feelings of weakness when we step out in obedience and act. God said to Moses: “Now therefore, go” (Exodus 4:12). It is difficult because we all want to be capable before we “go.” However, if you have taken time to prepare and seek the heart of God, then it might be time to act. If God has called you, and you step out in faith, then God will honor your obedience. The Holy Spirit often acts in human lives at the time of their action.

His power is perfect in weakness

In your times of inadequacy, remember that God is always exceedingly, abundantly more than enough for you. He is always sufficient, even when we aren’t. 

Praying for each of you as you lead out of your inadequacies. May the words of the apostle Paul encourage and reassure you: 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

 [1] https://insight.org/resources/article-library/individual/facing-the-tough-stuff-of-inadequacy-when-the-truth-comes-out