God Working Through Our Inadequacies

Janet Whited

I feel very fortunate to have been encouraged by Ford and Eric to participate in the Sunday School class they were teaching on inductive Bible Study this past semester. (Actually I was under the impression that attendance was required for community group leaders!) Either way, God knew I needed to be there.

I had facilitated a number of Bible Studies through the years, but I had always used questions provided by a book or an organization. This class was truly transformative. Over the course of the semester we slowly worked our way through the process of studying the Bible ourselves and then coming up with questions for a group that would help everyone observe, interpret and apply Scripture to their lives.

Over the months I was amazed that we could produce questions strictly by reading the Bible, with no commentary or additional study, but with the leading of the Holy Spirit. I was also learning a lot from not only Ford and Eric, but from the other members of the class. I was sure that everyone in that room had a better understanding of the Bible than I did. So imagine my surprise when I got an email from Eric the Thursday before our last class asking me to develop a Bible Study on a particular passage and lead the class! I asked Eric if he had accidentally sent this request to me rather than someone else.  This class was full of spiritual powerhouses. I was just there to learn! When he assured me he had, in fact, intended to ask me, I agreed to do it. 

With much fear and trepidation and especially prayer, I was able to prepare the lesson and to lead it as well. Not only did God make the study process exciting and meaningful, but he sustained me as I led the class. There was excellent discussion, and I never felt nervous once we started. God is always sufficient, and we often forget that until we step out in faith to do something we know we are inadequate to do on our own.