“Who am I that I should go to Pharoah and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Moses asked. (Exodus 3: 11)
Players on the LPGA – even at high-level amateur events – often talk about feeling like they don’t belong. Am I really good enough to be here? Is this stage too big?
Impostor syndrome can be traced back to the research of Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Ament Imes, who, in the late 1970s, observed 150 women in high-achieving professions and coined the term “impostor phenomenon” for the feelings of inadequacies the women felt despite being highly competent.
Many chalked their success up to some kind of fluke.
Of course, this isn’t a female phenomenon. Anyone can feel like they’ve been pushed into the deep end of the pool.
In Exodus 3, we find God – through a burning bush – telling Moses to bring his people out of Egypt.
“Who am I that I should go to Pharoah and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Moses asked.
God answered: “I will be with you.”
Moses didn’t feel up to the task, so God sent a series of signs to ease his mind, turning his staff into a snake and filling his hand with leprosy before healing it.
Yet still, Moses felt inadequate, saying, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.
“Who gave man his mouth?” the Lord responded. “Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
Could the Lord’s help be any clearer? He would not assign a task and then leave us to drown.
When we’ve been given an opportunity from the Lord but know we can’t do it on our own, it turns the focus away from our strengths and shines a spotlight on his provision. It’s both humbling and exhilarating to watch the Lord go to work on our behalf.
Sometimes, the outcome isn’t even something we’d imagined. The best victories are of eternal consequence.
There are no impostors when it comes to God’s assignments. No coincidences. No flukes.
He put you there for a reason.
I’ve learned that if everything in life starts to feel comfortable, something uncomfortable is just around the corner.
PRAYER: Father God, we thank you for assignments that seem out of our depth. We know we wouldn’t/couldn’t step into that space without you. Thank you for preparing the way and walking with us.