What's That In Your Hand?

WHAT’S IN YOUR HAND?

Exodus 4:1-4, "And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:"

Here is a story from the life of one of the greatest Prophets of God that ever lived. In the beginning it didn’t seem that Moses would be a candidate for that great honor. Moses’ life began as he was set afloat in a tar filled basket to escape the sword of Pharaoh’s army. Then God brought him to be raised in very house of that one who desired to kill him. Then Moses killed a man and ran for his life, leaving his position of power and authority in Egypt to dwell in the backside of the desert where he could learn the ability to humble himself before God at the burning bush.

Moses became the great leader of Israel that would lead them from bondage and slavery in Egypt. When he left the Palace of Pharaoh the first time, it was to flee under the guilt and sentence of death. When he came again it was under the anointing and direction of the King of Glory.

Pharaoh, the god-man of Egypt, was about to come face to face with the One True God of Israel.

Yes, Moses became a great man of God, a great Prophet, and would lead God’s people free, but Moses was not so eager to perform the great task for which he had been chosen by God. In fact he was fearful, doubtful and filled with excuses of why he couldn’t obey the call of God to be the spokesman for God in the presence of the powerful man on the face of the earth.

Through those long years that Moses spent as a shepherd he had carried a long rod that was used a tool and a weapon in caring for the sheep. With that rod he would be able to climb the side of sheer rock to rescue stray sheep. With that rod he would be able to climb down those same sheer rock faces once again. That rod could be laid across open chasms to use as a bridge to cross over to the other side. That rod could be used to strike at a wild animal or a man who would attempt to steal the sheep. That rod could be used to block the blows of any who try to attack Moses. Thus the rod was a tool that Moses came to trust, and to guard very carefully lest he would become defenseless. That rod, and his natural ability were the only things that Moses had that God wanted.

God didn’t call Moses and then give him an army of men to destroy Pharaoh. God didn’t even give Moses a sword with which to fight. God used what Moses already had. He used a dead, wooden rod to show his power to both Moses and to Pharaoh.

God often calls us to his service with just what we have in our hand.

God called Moses to do a mighty work for God – the freedom and deliverance of God’s chosen people was at stake and God chose a stuttering, meek, humble, frightened, doubting, excuse filled man, on the run for murdering an Egyptian, to perform that mighty work.

Moses would not have been my pick for the job and I don’t think that any of you would have picked him either. He just didn’t seem like the leadership type at this point in his life. To the natural eye it seemed that Moses could not be the right man for the job and he even said so himself.

But God saw something in Moses that man cannot see. He saw the heart of a man who would commit his all to God’s work. He saw a man that would not back down in the face of opposition, even under the threat of death. God saw a man who would become one of the greatest leaders in the history of the world.

Aren’t you glad that God can see what man can’t see! Man would look upon you and I and say, “You won’t amount to anything. You don’t have the intelligence to even come in out of the rain. What makes you think that God can and will use you? What makes you so special that God would choose you out of all the people who walk the face of the earth?”