(1) And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. (2) And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. (3) And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. (40 And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: (5) That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. (Exodus 4:1-5 KJV)

This is the conversation between Moses and God after the calling. In Exodus 3 the Lord appeared  to Moses in the form of a burning bush (that was not consumed to get his attention). It was then that the Lord informed Moses that God had chosen him to lead the Israelites out of slavery from the Egyptians. Moses did what many if not all of us still do to this day. We wonder if God got it right! One of the first things that Moses tried to do was disqualify himself from the call. In Exodus 3:11  it says that And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt. At this time Moses did not consider himself to be worthy of what God was calling him to do. He felt too small and too inadequate to face the Pharaoh. Often times, we are just like Moses we either feel that we are not worthy of the calling on our lives, or we feel inadequate because we feel as though we’re going up against a Pharaoh. Here’s the thing about it though. God has already equipped you with everything that you need for your calling. It’s either in you or it’s in your hand!

And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. (2) And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

A lot of the times it’s the fear of not being believed that it was God who actually called you. That causes us to self-doubt. For we know our limitations, we know our weaknesses, but most of all we know our past. We often believe that it’s these things that makes us ineligible to be used by God. Fear and self-doubt can be a lethal combination. Fear paralyzes us and self doubt will cause us to become immobile. If God called you to do it he already equipped you with not only the capability to do it, but also the will. He will always back up those he called. In verse 2 the Lord asked Moses what is that thing in your hand? In other words, he was asking him what is that thing that you use so often that you no longer pay attention to it. You’ve been working it so long, yet you have little to no idea just how powerful God will cause that thing in your hand to be. When Moses would lead his father-in-law Jethro flock. He would use the rod to guide the sheep. Many of the times God will use that which we are already familiar with to perform that which he wants us to do. Pay attention to that which is in your hand. For me it was a pen and paper. For you it may be something different, maybe you’re a natural leader people just seem to be drawn to you, for others you may be good with computers. The thing is that when something is in your hand it’s in your possession. Remember when I mentioned earlier that God has either given us everything we need for our calling in us or somewhere around us. Obviously the staff  wasn’t in Moses, but it was something that was close to him it was something that he was familiar with.

(3) And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; And Moses fled from before it. (4) And the Lord  said unto Moses , Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it and it became a rod in his hand.

The scripture says that God told Moses to cast the rod on the ground and when Moses did the staff became a serpent. Here is what I want for you to get. It was the same old staff that Moses had used for years that God told him to cast on the ground. Moses had no idea that when he cast his rod down that it would turn into a serpent. It frightened him so much that he actually fled from it. We have no idea just how powerful that thing in our hand really is. We’re use to handling it one way, but when God gets a hold of it. It becomes something else entirely. I want for you to notice something in verse 4. God tells him to put forth his hand, and take it by the tail. God was showing Moses how to properly handle the rod after it became a serpent. We may be use to handling that thing in our hands one way, but when God causes us to see it in a different light we can react like Moses and flee from it, but God will always teach us and show us how to handle what he has given us. Moses couldn’t just handle the rod turned serpent in any way. He had to grab it by the tail. Sometimes, we have to get adjusted to a new way in handling what God has given us.

(5) That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

Do you think that Moses was the only shepherd at the time who handled a rod? No, he wasn’t. God made mention of the fact that they (the Israelites as well as Pharaoh and the Egyptians) may believe that the same God who spoke to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Is also the same God who is not only speaking to you but working through you as well. God turning the rod into a serpent wasn’t just for Moses sake, it was also for the sake of those who would either try to disregard Moses. Or for those who would try to come against him. God would continue to use that rod to show his miracles, but Moses had to get used to seeing it as some other than just a plain old rod. What may have been just ordinary in the hands of another man. God will use to do mighty things in your hands. What is in your hands?

God’s blessings,

Aqua.