God Equips The Called

You may have heard the saying, “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.” While this is not a verse in the Bible, it is a theme that runs throughout it. It is seen in Genesis from the beginning with Abram (Genesis 12:1). It is seen in Exodus through Deuteronomy with Moses leading the people out of Egypt into the promised land. It goes through the rest of the Old Testament as God raised up judges, kings and prophets. It is also seen in the New Testament most plainly with the original twelve apostles. None of those He called were yet equipped to do the task He called them to do.

We might think God equipped the apostle Paul before calling him. He was a Pharisee who knew God’s law and was one of the most well-educated men of his day. Paul said of himself in Acts 22:3, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in [Jerusalem], educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.” Gamaliel was a rabbi and respected member of the Jewish council (Acts 5:34). Paul later said, “And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers (Galatians 1:14).”

When Jesus called him to be His apostle, it would be natural to think that his education equipped him for the task, but Paul said the opposite. He said, “formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief (1 Timothy 1:13).” By calling himself ignorant, Paul was not saying he was stupid or dumb; rather, he meant he was lacking knowledge. In other words, when he was called to be an apostle, he was not equipped.

Even though he knew a great deal about God, he was ignorant that Jesus was the fulfillment of prophecy and God’s promises of the Old Testament. How did God equip Paul? We see the answer in Galatians 1:16 when Paul wrote, “[God] was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles.” Like the disciples on the Emmaus road, Paul’s eyes had to be supernaturally opened to the truth (Luke 24:27).

Paul’s head knowledge of the Bible was not enough to equip him to be an apostle. That knowledge had to be turned into faith which is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). Even today people become experts in the Bible but do not believe it. This does not mean that Paul’s knowledge was unimportant. When preaching, he proved that it was necessary for Jesus to suffer, die, and be resurrected by using the scriptures. His biblical reasoning combined with the working of the Holy Spirit caused many Jews to believe and become Christians (Acts 17:2-4).

If we are in Christ, then we are all called by God. Let us have the humility of Paul to acknowledge that it is ultimately the equipping of God that will allow us to accomplish His tasks – no matter how equipped we may think we are.