Tuesday, February 23, 2016

What is in your hand?

I am not a huge fan of magic. I'm usually intent on figuring out the trickery behind the trick.  But I love the miraculous, when God does something only He can explain. God gave Moses what seemed like an impossible task. "Go see the powerful man that has been trying to kill you and tell him to release the majority if his workforce, tell him to let My people go." Moses was the perfect mixture of Israelite / Egyptian to deliver the message but his response is so familiar. "Suppose they will not believe me or listen to me...” Doubt, doubt, doubt. I doubt it, I doubt myself, I doubt You, God. So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”  He said, “A rod.”   And He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran from it. 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.” The all knowing One asks a simple question. “What is that in your hand?" Seems kind of obvious, "A stick."
Talking to God is often like that, He seems to beat around the bush,  not the burning one. He is all knowing but he often answers a question with a question, usually a question with an obvious answer. Like whose face is on Caesar's coin? Hey  Peter, do you love me?  Cain, where is your brother? Moses, what's that in your hand?  "Moses, what is that in your hand?" God was showing Moses that He had everything he needed to obey God right in his hand. After all, he was given the rod by God. So according to 2 Peter 1:3, "His divine power has given to us everything for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us..." We are equipped by Him with everything we need to live and be godly. 
That said, when God shows you what He can do through you it is often scary. When Moses saw the rod turn into a snake he ran from his own rod in fear. How many of us retreat from what God says He wants to do through us. "No God, I can't possibly..." You're right, you can't, but God can. The first thing we have to do is grab it. Watch how God tells Moses to deal with his fear.  "Reach out and grab it by the tail. Fear is dangerous. Grab it. Living in Texas I have a whole new respect for snakes. Snake safety 101 is never catch a snake by the tail. The pure obedience of Moses reaching out and catching the snake by the tail is a picture of faith. The faith that if I do exactly what God tells me, He will do the rest. Perhaps this is why God could do so much through Moses. He heard God clearly. He trusted God. He obeyed.
What do you have in your hand? An instrument? Then play. A voice? Then speak. A pen? Then write. Creativity? Then create. Children? Then parent.  A job? Then do it.  What do you have in your hand? Grab it by the tail and do what God has told you to do.  

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