Don’t Limit God By Limiting Yourself!

by vandy meares at www.flickr.com

“I just don’t think I can do that!”

“Well, I am too busy to add that to my life.”

“You can find someone who will do better, I don’t feel qualified to do it.” 

“I am not a very good teacher.”

Have you heard any of these lines before?  Have you said them?  While there is some legitimacy to each of them in the appropriate contexts, many times, these are just excuses.  They may be given in a spirit of sincerity and humility, but we need bold faith in our service to Him!  What I want you to consider is that you may be limiting God by limiting yourself!  

When God called Gideon to be a judge and deliver of the children of Israel from the hand of the Midianites, Gideon used similar excuses.  He asked, “How can I save Israel?  Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judges 6:15).  Like Moses before him when God called him at the burning bush, Gideon was determined God had selected the wrong man.  He tried to come up with reasons why he could not accomplish this mission.

What Gideon was doing, in actuality,  was limiting God.  You see God was the one who said He would empower him.  God would bring the victory through Gideon’s service.  Later in the story, God limits Israel’s army because He did not want Israel to boast saying “My own hand saved me” (7:2).  God would bring the victory, but when Gideon refused to serve, He was limiting God’s power and work.

This is something we should all soberly consider when we are asked to serve in the Lord’s kingdom, whether it be as a Bible class teacher, a chaperone on a youth trip, leading in public worship, a ministry leader, or as a church elder or deacon.  God didn’t take no for an answer.  He stayed with Gideon, like he stayed with Moses, because he had big plans for them.  He may very well stay after you too, until you consent.  Don’t limit God’s plans by limiting yourself!