What Is In Your Hand
The stick Moses was holding was a vital tool for a shepherd. It helped him guide the sheep, climb rugged cliffs, and protect the sheep and himself against dangerous animals. It was a significant part of Moses’ everyday life, but it may not have seemed to be anything special. When God told Moses to let go of the familiar stick, he performed miracles with it.
Sometimes God asks us to let go of our familiar, comfortable things so he can do something special with them in our lives. What is most familiar to you? Perhaps it is your home, your job, or a special talent. Turn what is familiar over to God, and allow him to show you the special plans he has for your life. You may be surprised at what God has in store. And God will be with you just as he was with Moses.
Moses Given Powerful Signs
Exodus 4: 1-17
Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.'”
The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”
And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the LORD said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand—“that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
Again, the LORD said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.
Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign.
If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”
But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”
Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”
Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”
