Why God Chooses People Who Feel Unqualified | Joshua 2 | Crossroads Daily

Big words are no offense. We use them a lot. Stop it. It's not necessary. If I have to get a dictionary out to know what you're saying, stop. I do my best, Kirsten. I learned how to read off of primers from the 1700s. I'm not even kidding. I was in elementary school. So like, it's just like ingrained. Peter, that's crazy. This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people, just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. Hey, I'm Alex. I'm Arturo. I'm Kirsten. And I'm Peter. And today we're spending some time in Joshua. The Israelites have finally made it to the promised land. There's just a river and a giant city in their way. And so Joshua decides to send two spies into the city to kind of check things out. They end up meeting a very unlikely, ends up being an ally for them, Rahab. I love this story. Part of the reason why I love this story is because Rahab is a prostitute. And she ends up being used by God in a huge way. And some people might not know this, but Rahab ends up actually being in the genealogy of Jesus. And, but she's kind of an unlikely hero. She's a prostitute. It very well could have disqualified her from being used by God, being respected by these spies. And I just think about, I disqualify myself all of the time from being used by God or just in general. And I'm curious, do you all ever feel that way?

Like you're disqualified? What do you feel like disqualifies you? See, there's a lot to this question. It's a really, really deep question. I don't think if sin on its own disqualified us, then we'd all be disqualified 100% of the time, 24 seven. That's right. So sin doesn't disqualify us. I think it's our response to our sin that can disqualify us. Wow. So good. And so I think really what keeps you qualified is repentance, repeated repentance and faith. And that's what, and Rahab demonstrates a level of faith that no one else in that city, they all heard the stories of the Israelites. She mentions the Red Sea, which we talked about a few episodes ago. So she heard that story and that was enough to give her enough faith to act in accordance with God's plan. Right. And that's enough. Yeah. And so there's, there's a comfort there, but there's also a, like a conviction or a, there's a call to action there of like, is there something you need to repent of? And the key in there, I think that you talked about is repentance. But that I actually think is, is really hard. I don't want to bring up all the yucky gross things that I've done or think about all the yucky gross parts of me right now. That's, that's really hard. Yeah. I struggle with inferiority. Like I'm usually in a room where people come from corporate, people come from master's degrees. Man, I barely made it through my bachelor's, barely. And I didn't go to seminary. I'm picking up this book and trying to figure it out on my own, essentially. Like I'm not learning how to read this thing. And so inferiority is something I struggled with a lot more when I would transition into the spaces that I'm in. And a lot of the times I have found sharing some of my yuck has helped because maybe those guys struggled with that once upon a time.

And setting the stage and letting them know, look, I'm not the city as the kids, but I'm a city kid. I don't know how I made it here, but I'm here and I've got all this baggage. It's not that I'm unloading it all at once, but letting them know where I'm at helps them to understand, oh, I can be vulnerable too. I've seen more intentional and intimate relationships with leadership and the people that I'm supposed to be leading when I let them know, hey, I don't have it all figured out. I'm still working through it. This is what I come from. And that's what you've got in this room, in this chair right now. I'm just being honest. And I think that honesty helps them guide me even better, actually, because I'm letting them know I don't got this figured out. And I'm dealing with stuff right now. And best case scenario, they put up with me. They still have me in the room. Worst case scenario, they don't really share much, but they at least know. And I've got it out there. It's like this is what I. Was is what I struggle with. I'm trying to get away from that. So help me. Yeah to help us Mmm, I don't know that that's what comes to mind to answer that question. Yeah, that's good for sure Yeah, I think I've I've done the sins The sins have been done in my life and Actually, it was so funny cuz back when I did all of the the like no no sins You know like sex before marriage blah blah blah drugs all the things. It's like When I started following Jesus and entering those spaces, I actually through stories like this felt the most qualified Wow I was like, oh I get to speak to people that don't know Jesus about where I just came out of and Relate to them on a whole new level that they never thought was real for people in the church. It was so cool However fast-forward what's so funny now that I'm in these circles like rooms like this what makes me feel Unqualified to do the work that I know the Lord has put in my life is not feeling like I'm smart enough Not feeling like I can speak well enough like my mom was a bartender single mom my whole life has she dropped out of high school like I It is a miracle that I have any education at all

But big words and things scare me and so wasn't it Moses He was the one that was like you want me to lead the people like I have a stutter Right. Those are the stories in Scripture that I have to remind myself Whenever I feel disqualified and Rahab like no God can use me Yeah, and put me in the places that he has promised me Regardless of how smart I am how much Bible I can memorize whatever and I'm so grateful For people like you guys and especially what do you call Peter Parker? Yeah, our our local expert Peter Yes, like we have so much fun having conversations because I I love to learn right? Yeah, you because I know that that's something like I have gaps in and at one point. I just have to surrender to God Yeah, I love this question because it's just like And just to encourage you Kirsten that if you let that disqualification Disqualification mindset Stop you from having conversations. You wouldn't grow and you wouldn't learn and you wouldn't you know, lean in Yes more and so I think that's incredible that you recognize that and you're actively doing something to say No, I am qualified and I want to grow in my knowledge of the Bible or whatever it is 100% I just don't big words are No offense. We use them a lot. Stop it. It's not necessary Dictionary out Stop I do my best Kirsten. I learned how to read off of primers from the 1700s. I'm not even kidding So like it's just like ingrained I love Arturo Kirsten what you guys shared you ran the whole gamut of of repentance first Then confession which is separate from repentance confession is about being known at its core Which is a beautiful thing and that builds relationship that vulnerability builds relationship and the power of your testimony transforms and changes That's the way God. Yes. So you hit you hit the whole the whole gamut both you guys So thank you guys so much for sharing that. Yeah, and we see Rahab. This is her Testimony, we see that changing people. I mean for thousands thousands of years now. Mm-hmm. I feel like I Feel disqualified sometimes probably very similar to Rahab just because I'm a woman I think that when I think back on I work at a church and when I think about being called into ministry and having the first opportunity of

Applying to work at a church. I remember a thought in my head of can I actually do that? Am I allowed? Yeah to do that there were some other things too that I was disqualifying myself in if like I never went to seminary very very similar Kirsten like I Don't know if I know enough to do that but I grew up in a church where women were not allowed on the leadership team and we did not have women pastors and we Had some women who worked at the church, but it was in the kids club and so that just wasn't really a thing that I grew up around and we hear stories like this and that's just So not true and I think that's something that I've had to retrain my brain in learning and Letting what God says is true is true. That's right And I also just love Rahab's courage in this whether it doesn't say how she was feeling She very well could have felt disqualified, right? But she had courage to overcome some of those what she probably felt like were yeah disqualifications and she took a step of action in faith. Couldn't she have been like killed? Absolutely. Treason, this is treason. Yes. Yeah. That is, well, even just for being a prostitute. She could have gotten killed for a lot less actually. This might, this would be public humiliation and death. Yeah. Yeah, cool. She did it anyway. So cool. So cool. I love her. Yes, well, it was just a huge, huge, huge act of faith. It was a huge, huge, huge act of courage.

And so I don't know where you might be feeling disqualified today. We all have areas in our life where we might be feeling like we're not good enough or things might not be possible for us because of our circumstances, maybe because of where we've been or what we've done. And on the other side of that, there could be a huge act of faith and courage that God is asking you to step into. And He is the one who qualifies you.