THE ROD OF GOD

So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.” (Exodus 4:2 )

Moses is one of the great Bible heroes.  His first attempt at delivering his people, however, had been a disaster.  Seeing an Egyptian abusing one of Moses' fellow Hebrews, he killed him and buried him in the sand.  How long would it have taken to deliver Israel at that rate--one per day?  Not only so, but Moses' bloody secret was out.  The cat was out of the bag--or in this case the corpse!  So, he fled for his life.  He would spend forty grueling years tending his father-in-law's flock on the backside of the wilderness.  This was God's discipline to humble him and shape him that He might use him.  Until God brings us to the end of ourself, we will never discover what He alone can do because He alone is all we have.

There was THE SERIOUS PROBLEM Moses posed to God.  When the Lord calls him, he recalls his failure, and an objection arises, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice” (4:1)  It was an excuse masquerading as a reason not to obey.  There was an element of truth, however.  If Moses could not back up his claims, then his efforts would bring another failure, on a grander scale.  The fact is that we cannot lead people for God publicly until the evidence is there that we have listened to God privately.

Here is THE STARTING POINT.  So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” (4:2)  We often think that when we get to a certain place, obtain better resources, or develop greater skills that God can use us.  What we fail to grasp is that God meets us where we are to bring us where He wants us to be.  In the midst of the mundane, God can intersect with us.  An old scrub bush in the wilderness can become the sacred spot where the Eternal One is encountered.  The piece of wood in our hands can become a tool for God to work wonders!  Remember how Jesus took a lad's lunch and fed 5,000?  The starting point of the miracle was when all was surrendered to Jesus.

We must deal with THE SERPENT'S POISON.  And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. (Exodus 4:3)  Moses must have wondered why God would have him throw away a perfectly good staff.  When he obeyed, he found it had the nature of the serpent about it so long as Moses controlled it.  Anything not surrendered to God does.

Moses then finds THE SPIRITUAL POWER.  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), “that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” (4:4-5)  From now on this staff that in the hand of Moses could only do what Moses could do would be known as the rod of God and through it God would do only what He could do!

What has God called you to do?  Will you surrender all you have so He can use you?