The apostle Paul invited church members in Corinth to consider their own relative weakness as a sign of God’s power:
God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1 Corinthians 1:27-29
The scriptures are full of examples of people who felt unqualified to perform the work God called them to do. For example:
- Moses: “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11).
- Gideon: “Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judges 6:15).
- Enoch: “Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?” (Moses 6:31).
- Nephi: “I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my people. And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them” (2 Nephi 33:4).
- Moroni: “Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing. … When we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words” (Ether 12:23, 25).
- Joseph Smith: “It caused me serious reflection … how very strange it was that an obscure boy, of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day” (Joseph Smith—History 1:23).
God chooses weak people to do His work for at least two reasons. First, they are more willing to accept His help, because they are more likely to realize that they need His help. Second, other people recognize His hand when they see relatively ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
In His preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord declares that He called Joseph Smith and others to proclaim His gospel for the following reason:
That it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets—
The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh.
But that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world.
Doctrine and Covenants 1:18-20
And that gives us a third reason why God calls weak people: So that everyone else feels empowered to contribute. When we see God performing miracles through imperfect servants, we take confidence that He can work through us as well. Every man and woman might speak and act in the name of the Lord if they are willing to exercise faith in Him and follow His counsel.
Today, I will be grateful that God chooses imperfect people to do His work. I will take confidence in fulfilling my callings, because I know that He can work miracles through the weak and foolish things of the world.