Jessica Levy Books

Did you know that the human brain contains about 86 billion neurons? A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand consists of 100,000 neurons and a billion synapses (connections).* No wonder that sucker weighs three pounds! Our minds are fantastic marvels of creative wonder. Without the brain, we would not be able to function.

And yet….it betrays us. It lies to us. It confuses us. The mind is incredible. And incredibly complicated.

As Joyce Meyer puts it, the mind is a battlefield. We have been charged with capturing our every thought and forcing it into submission (2 Corinthians 10:5). Why? Because our thoughts transport us to futures that don’t exist, pasts that don’t define us. Our minds cause us to see what isn’t there, to misread the minds of others, to focus on what is out of our control. If we don’t take them captive, our thoughts can really take us down a dark alley and beat the crap out of us.

One of the greatest bullies in our brains goes by the fancy name of Imposter Syndrome. It’s the perception that you don’t belong where you are, that you don’t deserve to be there, that if the people around you only really knew you, they would point at you, call you an imposter, and carry you out the door. Imposter Syndrome can cause you to freeze up in fear, to limit your growth so you aren’t found out. It can cause you to run from a challenge, to experience dissatisfaction with success, and to miss out on joy.

Most of us are familiar with the story of Jonah and the “whale” (it was a fish). We remember that Jonah ran away from God because he didn’t want to go to Nineveh and he was swallowed by a whale-fish. When he finally agreed to go, the fish spit (actually it says vomited) him onto land and he went to Nineveh to warn them, they repented of their evil ways, and they were saved and everyone lived happily ever after.

OK. Have you ever read chapter 4??

It begins with Jonah’s response to God’s mercy on the people of Nineveh: “But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry” (4:1). What? Jonah was like the hero of Nineveh. He was the one who brought the message to them that led to their salvation. Instead of rejoicing in their decision to turn their hearts toward God and being grateful to God for choosing him, Jonah threw a fit.

(vv. 2-3) “He prayed to the Lord, ‘Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.’”

Now, to Jonah’s credit, Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, a brutal, oppressive enemy of Israel. It is possible that a portion of Jonah’s avoidance and anger stemmed from this fact. I doubt, though, that Jonah would have felt such despair over his very life for this alone.

See, Jonah was a prophet. In Hebrew tradition, as explicitly stated in Deuteronomy (18:20-22), “but the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”

There could be nothing more humiliating to a prophet than having what he foretold not come to pass. He would become known as a false prophet. He would be seen as…an imposter.

Jonah’s imposter syndrome caused him to run away from God’s plan. It caused great suffering as he camped out in a fish belly for three days (no picnic, by the way – read chapter 2). Although he relented in his struggle and found a shred of courage to get back on the course, Jonah’s fear of being an imposter and his resulting anger stole victory and joy from the whole situation.

I can’t judge any man, but I definitely have no right to sit in judgment of Jonah. I’ve run from God’s best. In fear of failing or being seen as less than perfect, I’ve taken easier roads over God-appointed ones. I’ve missed, or nearly missed, his calling because I was too chicken to take the risk.

I’ve found dissatisfaction where I should have seen his glory. I’ve focused too much on my own accomplishments and failures that I completely missed what he was working through my situation.

I’ve watched joy pass me by as I fixate on the ways I’ve fallen short of perfection. I’ve prioritized what people thought of me over what God thought of them. What God thinks of me.

The truth is, in a way, we are basically all imposters. We don’t know our right hand from our left half the time. We are at the mercy of an all-knowing, all-seeing God. We are not deserving of our position. We are not deserving of our blessing. We are not worthy of the part God has established for us in his story, our calling. But the one who called us has already established our steps.

Let us learn to be grateful in the moments that God uses us to make a difference in this world. Let us learn to celebrate his victories and step out in confidence that he will make a way. We don’t deserve the credit, but it’s not because we didn’t earn it. It’s not because we don’t belong where we are. It’s because the credit is his.

*11 Fun Facts About Your Brain, Healthy Tips. Northwestern Medicine. Accessed online 2/19/2021 <https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/11-fun-facts-about-your-brain&gt;

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: PSYCOM.NET