What is that in your hand?

What is that in your hand?

One of my favorite Old Testament stories is found in Exodus 3-4. There we find the story of God’s call on Moses. I find it amazing what all God did to get Moses to a place where he could be used. We find God’s hand all over Moses from the beginning of his life. From a poor Egyptian Hebrew child to the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and back to a sheep herding fugitive. God was preparing Moses to be used in a very unique way. When Moses encountered God in the desert in Horeb in a burning (yet not burning) bush, Moses started with his excuses: “Who am I?” “What shall I tell them?” “I am slow of speech and tongue.” “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” After all that God had already brought Moses through in his life, he was still reluctant to follow God. Exodus 4:1-3 states the following: Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” Having been there with my own children, I can just imagine what God was thinking at this point. He was probably thinking, “When will Moses get it through his thick skull?”, when God had already answered this question in chapter 3. By this time, God figured that Moses needed an object lesson. The Lord answered Moses and said, “What is that in your hand?” Moses replied, “a staff.” Then the Lord gives a very strange request for him to throw down his rod. This rod, being a very important tool in the sheep herding trade, would soon be used to do miracles. Before that could happen, Moses had to release it and allow God to have it.

What is that in your hand? Wow, what a question. I started thinking about this in my own personal life, and I was convicted big time. What is it that I have been holding onto that has kept me from being who God wants me to be? I don’t have room in this article to tell you everything that I hold onto. Now, don’t start getting pious on me. We all have things that are keeping us from being used by God. Here are a few of the things that I hold in my hands. First, I hold control. Often, I do not give up control to God, thinking I can handle it myself. I hold my family. I know what is best for my family. I don’t need God’s help. I hold my abilities. I have enough talent to get through life on my own. I hold on to my finances. If I give God total control of my finances, He might ask me to do something I don’t want to do. I can handle my life by myself, right? WRONG! When Moses let God have his rod, it became the STAFF OF GOD.
Therefore, if I give God control, my family, my ability, and my finances, then He can and will use them in ways that I could never imagine. I promise you that when Moses was a sheep herding, Egyptian fugitive, he never imagined that he would become the vessel that God used to set His people free.

So what do you hold in your hands today?
To what or to whom are you bound?
Are you willing to give it to God right now?
Give it up; let it go, throw it down. Throw it down!

Aaron