What is That in Your Hand?

When God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, Moses was very hesitant. He offered many excuses as to why he could not go. He was concerned about his own lack of ability and the fact that the people might not believe that God had actually appeared to him. In response to these doubts, God asked a very simple but profound question: "What is that in your hand?" (Exodus 4:2).
Moses answered, "A rod." To Moses, it was just a common shepherd’s staff, a tool he had used for forty years while tending sheep in the desert. It was ordinary, weathered, and seemingly insignificant. However, once Moses threw it on the ground at God’s command, it became a serpent. When he picked it up, it became a tool of divine power.
This "ordinary" rod would later be used to part the Red Sea and strike the rock for water. Too often, we look at our own lives and tell God why we cannot serve Him. We say we are not talented enough, smart enough, or eloquent enough. We focus on what we don't have instead of what we do have. God’s question to Moses is the same question He asks us today: "What is that in your hand?"
You may not have the talent to preach to thousands or the wealth to fund global missions. But what do you have? Perhaps you have the ability to write an encouraging note, the time to visit the sick, the skill to fix a widow's home, or a voice to sing praises in the assembly. When we take the "ordinary" things in our hands and surrender them to God’s service, He makes them extraordinary. The power is never in the tool; the power is in the God who uses the tool.