To Confound the Wise
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. – 1 Corinthians 1:27
When asked to be the teacher for the adult Sunday school class, I felt completely inadequate. I am getting along in years
and do not remember as well as the younger people might. In addition, I became a Christian later in life, and the historical angle of the Bible was
hard for me to grasp. Time frames were fuzzy to me. But I agreed to try, because I had heard that “God’s callings are His enablings.”
The same day I received that request, I happened to read today’s focus verse. It gave me a measure of confidence, not in myself, but in God’s faithfulness
to supply my need. As I thought about it, I remembered that God had used the unlikely Moses to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses, a man
of weak speech, had to lead thousands of his brethren through the wilderness for forty years, and with God’s help he did just that. I also thought
of Gideon, to whom God gave the instruction to go to battle with just three hundred men, armed with only lamps inside of pitchers. They won the battle!
God told Joshua to have the people shout when they heard the seven priests blow their trumpets. When they obeyed, the walls of Jericho fell down, and
God’s people took the city. Samson slew a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey when God’s Spirit moved him. Through Scripture we know that Paul
had a physical infirmity, yet he was one of the greatest evangelists recorded in the Bible.
All of these examples caused me to realize that God often uses seemingly under-qualified individuals to accomplish His will. Perhaps He knows their weakness
will cause them to lean all the more on Him, or He wants to make it clear that any success comes from Him and not any one of us. Whatever His reasoning,
it is clear that God is not as concerned with our abilities as He is with our availability. If God has called us to a certain task, we ought to be
willing. That is all He requires. He will supply the ability.