What's In Your Hand

“Then the Lord said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’”  Exodus 4:1

In the midst of Moses’ excuses, God asked an interesting question—“What’s in your hand?” 

Moses knew the answer without even looking.  A staff.  An unexceptional, ordinary stick he picked up each morning as he headed out the tent to tend the herd.  But Moses was about to learn an important and life-changing lesson—what he saw as piece dead wood useful only for counting or coercing sheep, God saw as a snake-eating, river-splitting, water-gushing, battle-winning divine dowel.

For Moses to do God’s will, he didn’t need anything other than what he already had in his hand.  He just needed to use it as God said.

How inspiring and exciting!  Our God delights in taking ordinary, everyday stuff (people and their possessions) and transforming them for His will!   Who we are, what we have, and the opportunities before us today are meant to be part of something big! 

David held a slingshot, Esther held a doorknob, a widow held her flour jug, and a little boy held five loaves and two small fish.  Those might not seem like much, but as David whirled, Esther turned, the widow poured, and the little boy shared, a giant fell, a nation was spared, a family was saved, and a very large crowd had a very big lunch.

The same things will happen as we take what’s in our hands and trust them to our God.  You may be gripping a textbook or a telephone, a mixing spoon or a steering wheel, a writing pen or a power tool, but what you see as insignificant, God sees as divine instruments He can use to strengthen spirits, stir souls, display His power, and provide for His people. 

What you hold might not seem like much, but God can make it mighty.

What’s in your hand?