Glorify God with What He Has Placed in Your Hand
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- Updated Aug 24, 2022
There is a beautiful concept found in the life of Moses. God gives Moses a staff when he goes before Pharaoh with his brother Aaron. Moses was instructed to use what was in his hand to reveal the existence and glory of Yahweh. When we ponder this concept, we can begin to reflect on our own lives and what the Lord has entrusted to us. We can learn from the life of Moses.
What’s in your hand?
God Gives Us Opportunities
Moses was a miracle baby. During the time of his birth, the Pharaoh was killing off the Hebrew baby boys. Moses’ parents kept him safe and then at three months his mother put him in a basket. His sister Miriam watched at a distance while he happened to be picked up by the daughter of Pharaoh. Then Miriam told the daughter of Pharaoh that she would get a woman to nurse the baby (Moses’ actual mom) and Moses was able to learn of God and the Hebrew culture through his birth mom.
Years later, Moses ended up doing a terrible thing and killing a man who was hurting the Hebrew people. He fled for his life and landed in Midian where he met his wife. They had children and Egypt was all in his past. However, the Lord was not done with him there.
After 40 years in Midian, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. We think of the irony, what’s the fastest way to eliminate a tree made from wood? Fire. Well, this is the God who is over all and works miracles. Moses was not only witnessing a miracle, he was about to be personally involved in them.
Exodus 3:10-11 says, “’So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’”
Maybe you do not have the confidence to use the gift or talent which the Lord has given to you. Let this be a reminder that even if you ask like Moses, “Who am I?” That God can mightily use you for His name’s sake. The Lord gives us opportunities, but we have to say yes to them if we want to be a part of what He is doing.
I love that Moses asked “Who am I?” But God answered later “I Am who I Am” (Exodus 3:14). We do not have to be confident in ourselves, we just need to be confident in who the Lord is and has been and always will be.
You Have Something in Your Hand Too
Exodus 4:1-2 says, “Moses answered, ‘What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ ‘A staff,’ he replied.”
In the midst of Moses’ insecurities and doubts, Yahweh asked, “What is that in your hand?” Moses responded, “A staff.” The Lord already sovereignly placed a staff in this shepherd’s hand and Moses was about to see God work in amazing ways to free His people from slavery and oppression. The Lord provided the staff, but it was Moses who had to use it.
What’s in your hand? What has God given you? Is it a paint brush? An instrument? A confident voice? Great strength? Amazing patience? An ability to think through problems? Whatever the Lord has entrusted to you, give it back to Him. He is your Creator and you are His creation who is modeling and pointing the world to His existence and His sacrifice for all sins. Don’t waste your talents by setting them aside. Allow Christ to work through you for the benefit of the church body, the blessing of those around you, and to meet needs that come into your path.
We can examine our own lives and see the strength and the passion which the Lord has given to us. We each have at least one “staff” that we too are carrying. Whatever it is that God has given to us, we can give it back to Him by the ways that we use our giftings. Whether we are in a Christian atmosphere or a secular setting, we can point to the Savior’s love in our work, our hobbies, and in our homes.
Our “Staffs” Point to Freedom in Christ
It was this staff that God used by Moses to plague Egypt ten times. It was this staff that would later divide the Red Sea, to give the final steps towards freedom from the Hebrew’s oppressors.
At the moment of a sudden pause in their escape, the people of God came to the Red Sea and thought that they were going to be captured by the Egyptians. However, the Lord made a way through the sea. Exodus 14:16 says, “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.” God used Moses’ staff to make a way for those in need of freedom.
Exodus 14:21-22 - “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left."
This causes us to ponder that just like the Lord used Moses’ staff to bring people from slavery to freedom, that God can still use what is in our hands today to point people to Jesus, Who can free them from the slavery of sin and death and provide salvation and eternal life in Heaven. You have a greater purpose in your giftings and skills. Do not waste what is in your hand. If we can humbly lay our skillsets before the Lord and ask Him to use them for His kingdom work, we can be confident that He will.
Galatians 5:1 says it best, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
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