The Staff Of God

Reading: Exodus 3-5; Luke 22 2 Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied… 20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to the land of Egypt. In his hand he carried the staff of God. (Exodus 4:2, 20 NLT) Moses was a nomadic shepherd living deep in the Sinai Peninsula Wilderness. He didn’t have a lot of equipment with him when he met the “I AM” and got his assignment to lead his people to freedom. When he questioned whether he would have credibility with the people he had left forty years earlier, God asked him, “What do you have there in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied. God turned Moses’ old shepherd’s staff into a tool for demonstrating God’s power and leading God’s people. This old shepherd’s staff in Moses’ hand would show God’s power to the Israelites and the Egyptians, part the Red Sea, defeat the Amalekites, and bring water from a rock in the desert. God took Moses’ simple shepherd’s staff and changed it into the Staff of God! I believe that through the seasons of our lives, there is an onward call that will move us into greater fruitfulness and more effective service. That onward call will bring new challenges and require us to speak and act in faith, beyond our “comfort zone”, beyond our present experience. But the equipment we need to get started is already in our hands! A good question for each of us to ask is: “What do I have in my hand? What is there among my ordinary tools for living that can become something powerful and effective if I’m willing to use it for God?” Prayer: Father, What is there among my skills, tools, and resources that can become an effective tool for service in this season of life and service? I believe your words to me that you’re not finished with me yet and that a season of fruitful service remains before me. Please transform what I know and what I have into something to demonstrate your love and power to others. May some “old shepherd’s staff” in my hand become the Staff of God. Amen.