What is in your hand?

Exodus 4 (selected verses)

4 Then Moses answered, ‘But suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, “The Lord did not appear to you.”’ 2 The Lord said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ He said, ‘A staff.’ 3 And he said, ‘Throw it on the ground.’ So he threw the staff on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses drew back from it. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Reach out your hand, and seize it by the tail’—so he reached out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand— 5 ‘so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.’…

10 But Moses said to the Lord, ‘O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’ 11 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.’ 13 But he said, ‘O my Lord, please send someone else.’ 14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, ‘What of your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. 15 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 what you shall do. 16 He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him. 17 Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.’

18 Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, ‘Please let me go back to my kindred in Egypt and see whether they are still living.’ And Jethro said to Moses, ‘Go in peace.’ 19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, ‘Go back to Egypt; for all those who were seeking your life are dead.’ 20 So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt; and Moses carried the staff of God in his hand.

The dialogue between God and Moses continues, as Moses raises more objections about why God’s plan will not work. Notice how much Moses has changed from the man who killed to give some relief to a fellow Israelite who was being beaten, to now being afraid of being involved in freeing the Israelites. 

The first objection is: “What if the Israelites don’t believe me that you, O Lord, spoke to me?” Then comes: “I don’t speak very well. In fact (and this is very funny) I have not become more eloquent in the time I have been speaking with you, O Lord?” Finally, in asking his father-in-law’s permission, is Moses hoping that Jethro will say, “no, you cannot go”?  

Through these objections, the passage reminds us that Moses has the staff. Moses thinks it is unimportant in vs. 2 – it is just “a staff” (it is a generic stick) – by vs. 17 God says it is “this staff” (it is this specific staff) and then in vs. 20 it is “the staff of God”. The same piece of wood has taken on meaning, because God is using it, will work through it. In fact, the staff of God is the only thing Moses takes with him to confront Pharaoh.

There are things in our lives – abilities, gifts, characteristics, skills – things that are in our hands (vs. 2) – that seem like they are nothing, unimportant, insignificant. They are just a stick – just “a staff”. But God invites us to use them for a mission, a goal, a dream, that God has. A teacher has the chance to help students see the world in a different way offering hope; a neighbour delivering muffins gets to be a shoulder to cry on offering support; a jack-of-all-trades helps fix houses and shows the love of God. What is in your hands that God is inviting you to use for God’s dream in the world?

PRAYER:

O Lord, you have put things in our hands, gifts, skills, abilities, show us how we can use what you have put in our hands to join you in your work in the world, in our community, in our neighbourhood. In Jesus’ name. Amen.