04/29/2025
Have your good intentions given way to your stronger sense of inadequacy? Sometimes mine have.
· I should work out and get in shape, but I'm tired.
· It would be great to form some new friendships, but I'm too introverted.
· I’d love to live relaxed and confident, but I worry too much.
· I ought to get my finances in order, but I spend too much.
· I shouldn’t eat that bowl of ice cream before going to bed, but I had a stressful day.
The way John Ortberg puts it, “'But I’ doesn’t just keep me from succeeding. It stops me from even trying” (Steps, 35).
The “But-I” phrase is used a lot when God calls somebody to do something worthwhile:
· God says, “Abraham, become the father of a great people.” “But I am too old.”
· “Moses, go to Pharaoh.” “But I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
· “Gideon, deliver my people from the Midianites.” “But I am the least in my family.”
· “Jeremiah, be my prophet.” “But I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”
· “Esther, go to the king to save my people.” “But I have not been called by the king.”
· “Peter, cast your nets on the other side.” “But I already tried it all night.”
In each of these examples, God doesn’t respond by disagreeing with our inadequacies. He knows our shortcomings better than we do. He responds by calling us to step out in faith despite our inadequacies.
The Bible responds to our “But-I” inadequacies with “But-God” declarations. Author Fleming Rutledge writes that “when you hear those two words, `but God,’ in the New Testament, tune in, because you are about to hear the good news” (Advent, 125). “But God” means your inadequacy does not get the last word on who you can be or what you can do.
· Joseph said to his brothers, who sold him into slavery: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for
good.”
· The psalmist says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion
forever.”
· Ever feel unloved? “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person…. But God demonstrates his love
for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
· Ever feel foolish? “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.”
It’s time to stop excusing ourselves from God’s calling on our lives by whining about our inadequacies: “But I…But I…But I….”
Of course, you’re not smart enough. Of course, you’re not strong enough. Of course, you’re not good enough. Of course, you’re inadequate. But God is greater! Mark Roberts recounts how pastor-scholar Earl Palmer taught that “these two words summarize the whole message of Scripture, the heart of the Gospel. `We disobeyed, but God. We sinned, but God. We rebelled, but God. We wandered away, but God’” (The High Calling, blog).
Everybody is inadequate. However, our inadequacy doesn’t have to be the end of the story. The question is whether we will say, “But I…” or “But God….” The answer we choose will determine the life we lead. Let’s choose, “But God.”
