What Are You Holding in Your Hand?
What do you have that God can use - that He wants to use? There can be two ways of thinking about the answer to that question which are problematic and probably all too common. You may think that what you have is not enough. On the other hand, you may place a very high value on things you have to give up. So, what you have to offer may seem like nothing – or it may seem like everything.
Like Moses, you might be prone to lay out your excuses to God for why you are ill suited for a particular assignment from Him. If you know about Moses’ story, you know Moses implored God to use Aaron for the job of freeing God’s people. Moses was “slow of speech” and was focused on his inadequacies, but
God reminds him that He has made all people as they are for a particular purpose. The Lord said to him,
“Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the
Lord?” (Exodus 4:11). God can take something the world sees as weak, and use it for His glory. “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27). If there is anything I have learned about the character of God, as I look through Scripture and observe the lives of people I know, it’s that He loves to do this. He loves to use the unlikely, the weak, the ordinary, to accomplish the extraordinary.
Also in this passage, God told Moses to throw down the rod he was holding in his hand. Moses did and it became a snake – Moses ran from it, but then picked it up as he was instructed to do. The rod was a very important thing back in those times. Shepherds used their rods to bring correction to sheep, to keep the sheep together, and for protection. Maybe Moses was hesitant to even throw down the rod in the first place. What he was holding in his hand was precious to him. When he does throw it down, it becomes something scary, something that didn’t look like a blessing, that much is sure. In fear he picks it back up and it turns into a rod again. This sign was given so that Moses could perform the wonder in front of Pharoah, that he might see and know God’s power.
Whether you think you don’t have what it takes to accomplish big things for the Kingdom, or whether you’re holding on too tightly to what you have in your hand, what is holding you back from being all that you can be, from doing all that you can do, from truly fulfilling your purpose on earth? Is it fear? Is it doubt? Is it love of money, status, or comfort? He wants it all and can use it all for his glory. As the old song says, “Give it up, let it go, throw it down.”
By: Michelle Dowdy