When You Don't Have What It Takes

The Impossible Inventory

May 2006. Bobby had just registered the domain "YouVersion" and made the most audacious promise of his life: "We'll launch a biblical website by September."

But when he got home and opened his laptop, reality hit him like a freight train.

They had no developers. Zero. Not one person on the team knew how to write a line of code more complex than an email signature.

They had no biblical rights. They didn't even know you needed licensing to publish the Bible online. They were so green they thought Scripture was like quoting Shakespeare - public domain and free for all.

They had no budget. They were about to launch a digital revolution with the annual budget of a small-town church in Oklahoma.

They had a domain name, a God-sized dream, and four months to pull off the impossible.

It was the perfect recipe for spectacular failure. Or divine miracle.

God's Hall of Fame for the Unqualified

But Bobby was unknowingly joining the most exclusive club in history: the utterly unqualified chosen by God.

It's a club with very specific membership requirements: you must be absolutely certain you're not cut out for what God is calling you to do.

Moses had everything going for him except what God needed: a shepherd with a speech impediment called to face down the most powerful ruler on earth. "I can't speak in public, Lord. Please send someone else."

Gideon was literally hiding in a cave when an angel called him "mighty warrior." His response? "My family is nobody special and I'm the runt of the litter." Translation: "God, You've clearly got the wrong guy. I'm scared of my own shadow."

David was so young that when Samuel came to anoint the new king, his own father forgot to invite him to the ceremony. He was out back with the sheep, considered too insignificant to even be in the room when God's prophet came calling.

The pattern is crystal clear: God doesn't recruit based on resumes. He recruits based on availability.

The Divine Mathematics of Weakness

There's a mathematical principle operating in God's kingdom that defies every business school formula.

When you have all the qualifications, God lets you handle it solo.
When you're completely in over your head, God rolls up His sleeves and gets to work.

It's the most counterintuitive equation in the universe: Total inadequacy + Complete availability = Unlimited divine power.

Jesus proved it with five loaves and two fish. That boy had absolutely no clue how to cater a crowd of five thousand. He didn't need to know how. He just needed to put his "pathetically insufficient" lunch in the hands of the One who specializes in making not nearly enough into more than plenty.

The widow had no idea how two pennies could outweigh a millionaire's donation.
Peter couldn't fathom how his raggedy nets could hold a catch that nearly sank his boat.
The disciples never imagined how twelve blue-collar guys could turn the world upside down.

They didn't need to figure it out. They just needed to say yes.

Heaven's Networking Event

Bobby and his team started doing what every desperate entrepreneur does: they began pitching their crazy idea to anyone who would listen.

And here's where God's fingerprints started showing up all over this story.

A local businessman heard about the project during casual small talk. He wasn't a tech guy. He wasn't even particularly churchy. But something about this impossible dream grabbed his attention.

"I know some folks who might be able to help you out," he said casually.

Those "some folks" turned out to be the CEOs and decision-makers of the biggest Bible publishing companies on the planet. Men who normally wouldn't return a cold call from Oklahoma if their lives depended on it, suddenly found themselves taking meetings with a pastor who wanted to put Scripture on cell phones.

It was statistically impossible. Like a kid with a lemonade stand convincing the boards of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Dr Pepper to fund his summer business.

But in God's economy, "impossible" is just another word for "watch Me work."

God's School for the Overwhelmed

The Lord has a very particular teaching style. He doesn't build your faith by handing you everything on a silver platter. He builds your faith by putting you in situations where trusting Him is your only viable option.

It's like learning to swim - eventually, you've got to take off the floaties and jump into the deep end.

Paul learned this lesson through his "thorn in the flesh" - some painful limitation God refused to remove despite repeated prayer. Three times, Paul begged for relief. Three times God said: "My grace is enough for you. My strength shows up best in your weakness."

This wasn't divine cruelty. This was graduate-level faith training. Paul had to learn that being strong in Christ doesn't mean being self-sufficient. It means being completely dependent on supernatural power that flows through human weakness.

Bobby and his team were enrolled in the same intensive program. Every obstacle they hit - no money, no technical skills, no industry connections - wasn't evidence that they should quit.

It was God's signature on the project.

When Heaven Opens Doors You Can't

When God decides to move, the entire universe seems to reorganize itself to make things happen.

Those Bible publishing executives didn't just grant permission - they gave it away completely free. Companies that normally charged thousands for licensing suddenly said: "Take it. No charge. Unlimited usage. Global distribution."

Software developers started appearing like they'd been sent from central casting. They weren't hunting for YouVersion - YouVersion found them through a chain of "coincidences" that only an all-knowing God could orchestrate.

Funding materialized not from venture capitalists or angel investors, but from everyday believers who felt divinely nudged to support something that didn't even exist yet but somehow knew it needed to.

It was like God had announced: "You bring the willingness. I'll handle the rest."

The Beautiful Truth About Being In Over Your Head

And here's where the revelation hits that changes everything:

God doesn't call you despite your inadequacies. He calls you because of them.

Because when you've got all the credentials, people look at your success and think: "Wow, what talent."
When you're clearly in over your head and miracles start happening, everyone looks up and says: "Wow, what a God."

Your inadequacy isn't a bug in God's system. It's a feature. It's how He makes sure the glory lands where it belongs.

Moses, with his stuttering speech, that moved nations.
Gideon, with his handful of farm boys, who defeated armies.
David with his slingshot that dropped giants.
Bobby, with zero tech experience, is launching an app that would change the world.

Same pattern every time: God takes what looks like it shouldn't work and uses it to accomplish what seemed impossible.

The Final Explosion of Grace

And now, as you hold the app born from a team's blessed inadequacy - people who had no business succeeding but somehow did - consider this soul-shaking truth:

Right now, God is looking at your inadequacies not as disqualifications but as divine invitations to watch Him work.

That skill you're missing? That's prime real estate for His power to show up.
*Those resources you don't have? That's His opportunity to provide in ways that will leave everyone speechless.
That fear that's paralyzing you? That's fertile ground where mountain-moving faith wants to grow.

Because the God who turned a tongue-tied shepherd into the liberator of nations is ready to do something equally impossible with you.

The God who took a farm boy with a slingshot and made him a king knows exactly what to do with whatever you've got in your hands.

The God who used twelve unqualified men to launch a movement that's still changing lives 2,000 years later already has plans for your beautiful, blessed, glorious inadequacy.

You don't need to be qualified.
You need to be available.

You don't need to have it all figured out.
You need to say yes with everything you've got.

You don't need to know the how.
You need to trust the One who always does.

And when you finally do - when you stop waiting until you're ready and start being willing - you'll discover the most liberating truth in the universe:

God was never waiting for you to be sufficient.

He was waiting for you to be His.

And that-that's more than sufficient for any miracle He wants to accomplish through your life.

Small yeses.

Big miracles.

Always.