Why Do I Feel Like God Can't Use Me?

He can. And He tends to do His best work through the people who look the least likely from the outside. That is not an accident. That is a pattern. And it runs all through Scripture and all through history.

Maybe you have been sitting on the sidelines for a while. Watching other people get used, get seen, get chosen. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a quiet thought has settled in that sounds something like this. Maybe it is not my turn. Maybe I am too behind. Maybe I am too small. Maybe what I have is not enough.

That thought is a lie. And I want to prove it to you today before we go any further in this series.

Does God Really Use People Who Look Like Long Shots?

In 1997, Netflix was a fledgling little startup trying to get into the movie rental business. Blockbuster Video was the giant. They were everywhere. They were running the game. And Netflix, struggling with their whole model, went to Blockbuster in 2000 and offered to sell themselves for $50 million. Blockbuster looked at them and said no. The dot-com thing is temporary. We are not buying you.

Fast forward to today. Blockbuster is bankrupt, with one location left in the state of Oregon. Netflix had $30 billion in revenue in 2021, having grown from $1.6 billion just ten years earlier. The underdog who got turned away became the giant.

Steven Spielberg, arguably one of the greatest film directors of our time, was rejected by film school three times. Three.

Michael Jordan, the man many people call one of the greatest basketball players who ever lived, was told at five foot eleven that he did not make the varsity team in high school.

We tend to think that God only works with the most popular, the most visible, the most experienced, the most polished. The evidence says otherwise. It says He has a history of choosing the last and choosing the small.

What Does Scripture Say About Who God Chooses?

First Samuel 16 gives us one of the clearest pictures of how God operates when He is looking for someone to use.

God tells His prophet Samuel to go to the house of a man named Jesse and anoint the next king of Israel. Samuel goes. Jesse's sons parade in front of him, and the first one to walk in is physically impressive. Samuel sees him and thinks, this is clearly the one. He pours the horn of oil. No oil comes out. He tries the second son, the third, the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh. No oil. After seven sons, Samuel looks at Jesse and asks, do you have any more?

And Jesse says, well, there is one more. He is outside with the sheep.

The youngest son. The one not even invited into the room. The one tending animals while his brothers were being considered for the highest position in the nation. That was David. And when he walked in, the oil flowed.

1 Samuel 16:7 (NKJV) says, "For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

David did not get passed over because he was less than. He was outside doing the work, tending his father's sheep, faithful to what was in front of him. And God found him exactly there. Not on a stage. Not in a lineup. Out in the field, handling his business.

If you have been faithfully doing what is in front of you, wondering why it feels like everyone else is being picked and you keep being overlooked, hear this. God knows exactly where you are. And He is not confused about who He wants to use.

Shed the belief that because you are behind today, you will always be behind. Shed the belief that because you are not the most visible or the most popular, God is not paying attention to you. Shed the belief that what you have is too small to matter.

He uses the last. He uses the small. And that is every single one of us.

Take this to the Word yourself. 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Zechariah 4:10, 1 Corinthians 1:26-29.

What This Means for You

Where in your life have you been quietly assuming you are too behind, too small, or too overlooked for God to use you in a significant way?

This is the first post in a five part series called Mighty Misfits, where we look at who God actually chooses to use and why the things the world counts out are often the very things He counts in. Next up, we are getting into the question a lot of us are afraid to ask out loud. Does a jacked-up past disqualify you from being used by God?

I teach God's Word weekly inside the SheShed Community, and this is exactly the kind of teaching that hits different when you're in the room for it. The replay of this teaching, "Mighty Misfits," is available inside the community as well. Come sit with us.