He is a successful and intelligent person; he has been blessed with a wonderful wife and children, he has quite a few friends and they do love him. But deep inside there was something that was telling him, “You are different, you are not as worthy as other people.” Whenever he goes to a public place and whenever he meets new people an inner voice keeps whispering “Hey, you know you are different, you know that you lack something, even if you are successful you are still not like them.” Every time someone laughed it was interpreted by him as a sign of being made fun of. Whenever two people started to whisper to each other he just knew that they were talking about him. The man was feeling that he just did not measure up to other people or to put it in other words, he was feeling inferior. When those feelings of inferiority control our behavior to that extent it can then be termed as inferiority complex. The cause of this man’s inferiority complex was deeply rooted in his childhood. When he was a child his family put him up for adoption and he was adopted into a very powerful and wealthy family. He had everything he could have wanted and enjoyed the privilege of the best education his community had to offer. However deep inside he just felt like he didn’t belong, he was an outsider and his true family was out there somewhere living in poverty and being mistreated. He once stood up for his own people and they rejected him and treated him as an outsider. Now he is living far from his hometown and very successfully running his father-in-law’s business, but those feelings of not measuring up still linger beneath the surface. Soon they will surface again as he is offered a new job with more prestige. The voice once again says that you are inadequate, so he tries to respectfully decline the offer. Although he was handpicked for the job he feels he is not capable of doing it. Many of us struggle with the feelings as the person I just described. The person’s name is Moses. Today I would like us to take some time and look at Moses’ faith. A faith that acts even when we feel inferior.
I. Moses knew what it meant to feel inferior.
A. Moses’ early years were shaped by the faith of his parents.
1. Moses was born about 1525 BC to Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi.
2. The beauty of the child was taken as a sign that God had something special in store for him. By faith they hid the child for three months.
3. When Moses’ mother could hide him no longer, she fashioned a basketlike boat from papyrus reeds and caulked it with pitch to make it watertight and floated it on the Nile River.
4. God used the tears of the infant to touch the heart of Pharaoh’s daughter as she came down to the sacred Nile to take her ritual bath. The princess recognized the baby as a Hebrew not because of his circumcision (Egyptians also circumcised), but because he was an abandoned male.
5. Moses’ sister Miriam who was hiding nearby stepped forward and offered to secure a Hebrew nurse for the infant. Miriam brought Jochebed to the princess who contracted with her to nurse the baby.
6. Moses was the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. During his stay in the palace Moses became learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
B. Moses would make a major faith decision that would begin to give birth to his feelings of inferiority.
1. Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
2. When he refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he turned his back on the fabulous personal wealth of a Pharaoh, the national wealth of the mightiest nation on earth, and the tremendous treasures of its culture, influence and prestige.
3. At age forty Moses left the luxury of the palace to visit his countrymen. Seeing an Egyptian beating a fellow Hebrew, Moses was roused to anger and he killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand.
4. Moses thought that his own people would recognize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The very next day he tried to assert his leadership among his people by intervening on behalf of a Hebrew being victimized by a fellow Hebrew.
5. The aggressor responded to Moses’ efforts with two rhetorical questions: “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you intend to slay me as you slew the Egyptian?” This Hebrew man saw in Moses only a meddler.
C. Moses’ feelings of inferiority really become evident when God calls him into service.
1. For forty years Moses quietly took care of his father-in-law Jethro’s flocks of sheep.
2. He minded his own business, raised a family and tried to forget the suffering of his people in Egypt.
3. In the course of his duties of tending Jethro’s flock, Moses came into the region of Horeb, the mountain of God.
4. The angel of Yahweh appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a bush. This is not a visionary or inner experience. What happened there cannot be explained on any naturalistic basis. He moved closer to investigate and when he did he heard the voice of God.
5. In the course of his conversation with God Moses felt so inferior and inadequate for the task to which God was calling him that he began to make excuses.
6. God answered each objection and assured Moses that He would be with Him.
II. Reasons why so many people struggle with feelings of inferiority.
A. People often feel inferior because they receive negative programming as a child.
1. If you were raised with people that made you feel that you were unwanted or unworthy or that regardless of what you did it was never good enough, it has the potential to create feelings of inferiority.
2. If you were constantly told by others that you would never amount to anything or if your mistakes were constantly pointed out it is no wonder you battle an inferiority complex.
3. Moses was a product of two different homes. Being born as a Hebrew and being raised as a Egyptian, Moses was torn between cultures and probably felt like he did not really belong in either one.
4. This young Hebrew growing up in an Egyptian home no doubt battled rumors, name callings and feelings of being an outcast.
B. People often feel inferior because they do not measure up to cultural expectations.
1. Our society emphasizes appearance, wealth, athletic ability and youth more than anything else.
2. If you are not built like a body builder or do not possess the body of a supermodel you feel inadequate.
3. If you cannot run a mile in less than five minutes and your clothes bear the wal-mart label rather than some designer you feel inferior.
4. Moses had worked has a shepherd for the past forty years which was one of the most despised occupations in all of Egypt.
C. People often feel inferior because of their own past failures.
1. Moses was forever scarred by the rejection he felt when the Hebrew slaves refused to respond to his leadership.
2. Now God was asking him to go back to the place where he failed once before and to try leading those same people who had rejected him.
3. If you tried something and failed, failed in a business venture or were rejected by someone you loved, your confidence is severely shaken especially in that particular area.
4. Regardless of how many successes you have experienced that injury stays with you long after the recovery is complete.
D. The primary source of inferiority is Satan.
1. Satan wants us to be intimidated and to not like ourselves because inferiority keeps us from being effective in service.
2. Jesus commands us in Matthew 19:19 to love our neighbors as ourselves.
3. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. (Ephesians 5:28—NIV)
4. It is far from God’s will for us to despise ourselves.
5. Satan lies about your value and robs you of your sense of worth.
III. The dangers associated with feelings of inferiority.
A. Inferiority stunts your growth and prevents you from reaching your potential.
1. One of the excuses Moses gave to God was that he was not a good speaker. That statement was probably far from the truth.
2. Josephus the famous ancient Jewish historian recorded that Moses was a general in Pharaoh’s army in his early years which would have meant that he had leadership experience as well as experience speaking in front of many people.
3. Stephen in his speech in Acts 7 states that Moses was power in speech and action.
4. God may have gifted you to lead, teach, write, minister, discover or build. But if you keep backing away from challenges because you do not believe that you can do them, you do not lack confidence in yourself, you lack confidence in God.
B. Inferiority keeps your dreams from being a reality.
1. Forty years earlier Moses could not bear to see his people mistreated, he probably envisioned his people being freed.
2. Moses had the right dream but he took the wrong course of action outside of God’s timing.
3. When God would ask him to perform the very task he had dreamed he felt inadequate because of his own perceived failure and the resulting feelings of inferiority.
4. Where there is no vision the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18—KJV)
5. If you do not dream you cannot achieve, and more than that God cannot achieve great things through you.
C. Inferiority ruins your relationships.
1. Inferiority ruins our relationship with God.
2. If you think that you are worthless how does that reflect upon on the one who created you? Eventually you will grow to feel that He really doesn’t care for you much either.
3. Inferiority ruins our relationships with others.
4. The hardest people to get along with are those who do not like themselves. They are overly suspicious, quite defensive and get their feelings hurt easily.
5. Moses was perfectly content with living in obscurity out in the desert with the sheep. Why set himself up to be hurt once again?
IV. Ways to overcome those feelings of inferiority.
A. Surrender to God’s authority in your life.
1. God cured Moses inferiority when He got angry and said, “You go and do what I command.”
2. The first step to overcoming inferiority is acknowledging that God is in charge of your life and you are not.
3. A servant is not concerned with fulfilling or promoting himself. He is concerned with obedience and fulfilling the desires of his master.
4. Moses began to overcome his feelings of inferiority when he swallowed his pride and surrendered to God’s authority in his life.
B. Forget yourself and focus on serving others.
1. The world will tell us to look out for number one but we need to listen to God and focus on the challenge of helping others.
2. God basically told Moses, “Look Moses, stop thinking about yourself. There are two million people in slavery who need to be freed.”
3. When we get our minds off ourselves and start focusing on serving others two things happen: people’s needs are met and our feelings of self worth are enhanced.
4. Through faith Moses obeyed God and accomplished great things.
Years ago there were two friends who were competing in a state diving competition. The boy’s names were Jimmy and Billy. Jimmy was a mediocre diver but his friend Billy had the potential to be a state champion. However, when they would get into the heat of competition Billy would always freeze, He just didn’t perform well under pressure. When the two practiced Jimmy always thought, if Billy could dive in competition the way he does in practice, he’d win every time. At the state meet Jimmy got an idea. He would talk to Billy throughout the completion as he did when they were practicing. So when he stepped on to the diving platform he would yell, “Watch this Billy, I’m an eagle. See if you can top this?” or, “O.K., Billy, I’m going to reach the rafters with this one!” or, “Billy, I’m a swan!” Jimmy’s plan worked. Billy seemed to relax, and did as well as he did in practice. Billy was outstanding. When the awards were announced, Billy did not receive first place. He was given a second place medal. Who was the state champion? It was Jimmy. Jimmy had become so focused on helping his friend that he had reached a higher level of performance than he ever dreamed possible. Remember Jesus’ words? “The greatest among you will be the servant of all.”
