INTRODUCTION

1. If you are a believer in Christ, then you have a high and noble calling as described in 1Peter 2:9:

   But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

2. You have joined many others who have served God as well, but what makes any of us adequate to accomplish God's will?  We will seek to answer this question in this lesson.

    

WHO WERE THEY TO ACCOMPLISH GOD'S WILL?

1. Moses asked "Who am I?" because he felt inadequate for his assignment from God.

   1. When God spoke to Moses from the midst of the burning bush and told him to go to Pharaoh, Moses said in Exodus 3:11, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?"

      1. Forty years earlier, Moses had been rejected by Israel, and he had fled Egypt because the Pharaoh tried to kill him.  He had settled in Midian as a shepherd and apparently had no intention of ever returning to Egypt (Ex. 2:11-22).

      2. Now at eighty years of age, Moses resisted God's instructions, giving many reasons that he should not go.  He did not know God's name (Ex. 3:13), the people would not believe him (Ex. 4:1), and he was a poor speaker (Ex. 4:10).

      3. At last Moses asked God to excuse him, saying, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever Thou wilt" (Ex. 4:13).

   2. God's answer to Moses was a promise that He would always be with him.

      1. In Exodus 3:12, God said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain."

      2. In fact, God had already declared in His initial call that He would accomplish these things, for He said, "I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians..." (Ex. 3:8).

      3. For each reason offered by Moses, God answered with the same assurance that He Himself would overcome Moses' inadequacies.  The power to accomplish this assignment was in God, not Moses.

2. Gideon questioned his own qualifications, for he knew that he was inadequate by himself.

   1. The angel of the Lord came to Gideon while he was in a wine press trying to save wheat from the Midianites (Jdg. 6:11).  He called on Gideon to deliver Israel from Midian (Jdg. 6:14).

   2. Gideon replied to the angel with doubts, saying in Judges 6:15, "O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel?  Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house."

   3. God's answer to Gideon was the same as He gave to Moses: "I will be with you."

      1. In His initial call, the angel of the Lord said to Gideon, "The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior" (Jdg. 6:12).

      2. When Gideon asked why God had abandoned Israel, God replied in Judges 6:14, "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian.  Have I not sent you?"

      3. When Gideon doubted his own qualifications, God said "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man" (Jdg. 6:16).

      4. Like Moses, Gideon was not expected to deliver Israel by his own power, but rather deliverance would be accomplished by the power of God.

3. David asked "Who am I?" as an expression of humility, gratitude, and praise for God.

   1. When God promised to seat one of David's descendants on his throne forever, David replied to Him in 2Samual 7:18, saying, "Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?"

      1. Unlike Moses and Gideon, David did not ask "Who am I?" as a means of resisting God's call. Instead, he asked this question as a way of recognizing his own insignificance and God's greatness.

      2. David followed these words with a long declaration of praise for God.  Consider an excerpt from 2Samual 7:7:21-22:

         ²¹"For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know.  ²²For this reason You are great, O Lord GOD; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears."

   2. When David had gathered from Israel the provisions to build God's temple, he said to God in 1Chronicles 29:14, "But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this?  For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You."

      1. Rather than asserting that God was dependent upon David and Israel for His temple, David humbly recognized that God was the source of every provision.

      2. Consider David's attitude toward God in 1Chronicles 29:15-16:

         ¹⁵"For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.  ¹⁶O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours."

4. Solomon asked "Who am I?" because he knew that he needed help.

   1. David had left provisions and directions for Solomon to build a temple for God, but Solomon recognized his own inadequacy, asking in 2Chronicles 2:6,

      "But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him?  So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him?"

   2. Solomon acknowledged two shortcomings on his behalf.

      1. The mere idea of building a house for God on earth is absurd just as Paul would later observe in Acts 17:24-25:

         ²⁴"The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; ²⁵nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things."

      2. Furthermore, Solomon did not have the technical knowledge to construct the temple.

   3. Solomon knew that he could never build a sufficient dwelling place for God on earth, but he could obtain help to build the temple structure. Therefore, Solomon appealed to Huram the king of Tyre to send help in the form of skilled men and more provisions (2Chron. 2:3-10).

       

WHO ARE WE TO ACCOMPLISH GOD'S WILL?

1. Men like Moses, Gideon, David, and Solomon were equipped to accomplish their tasks, and so are we.

   1. God prepared Moses, Gideon, David, and Solomon to deliver Israel, establish the kingdom of Israel, build His temple, and more.  They succeeded because God made them adequate.

   2. Our assignments are different from theirs, but the source of our success is the same.  It is the power of God that works in us who believe (Eph. 1:18-21) and the word of God that equips us for every good work (2Tim. 3:16-17).

2. Like them, we must realize that the power to succeed does not come from ourselves, but rather it comes from Almighty God.

   1. Like Moses and Gideon, it is necessary to recognize that the presence and power of God is with us for accomplishing His purposes. Remember, when Jesus gave the Great Commission, He said, "And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20).

   2. Like David, we must direct all praise and gratitude for our opportunities and successes toward God Himself.

   3. Like Solomon, we need to acknowledge the gravity of our tasks and seek for help from others when we need it.

       

CONCLUSION

1. The theme of this lesson can be summarized by 2Corinthians 3:5, which says, "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God."

2. In the coming lessons of this series, we will consider who we are in categories that describe our relationships to God and other believers (i.e., Christians, children of God, disciples, saints, etc.).  The theme of the series will be that we are adequate to accomplish God's will because He has made us to be adequate.