What's In Your Hand?

[00:00:10] Hey, everybody. Pastor Chuck Allen here with another weekday podcast. And over the next few days, we're going to spend some time in the Book of Exodus. Today, I want us to start in Exodus 4 and ask the question, instead of, what's in your wallet, what's in your hand? [00:00:29] So I want you to think about this. In chapter four in the book of Exodus, it opens up with Moses saying, what if they won't believe me or listen to me? [00:00:40] Now, that's in answer to God saying, lead my people out of Egypt out of oppression, out of slavery. [00:00:50] Now, here, I'm not saying that's an easy thing to recognize. [00:00:56] But Moses answers with a simple question. [00:01:00] What if they won't believe me or listen to me? And God answers with one of the simplest questions in the whole Bible. In verse two, he says, Then the Lord asked him, what is that in your hand? A shepherd staff, Moses replied. [00:01:15] Just imagine that staff for a minute. [00:01:19] Nothing special. It's a stick. Probably worn smooth from years of carrying it. He'd probably carried it for every day, maybe for decades. [00:01:29] It had leaned against rocks, it had leaned against tents and had been dragged through the dust. [00:01:35] It was the tool of a human who, in his own mind, had been demoted from prince all the way to shepherd. And that's exactly what God asks about. [00:01:47] God tells him, throw it down. And when he does, it turns into a snake. [00:01:52] And in verse three, it says, moses jumped back. [00:01:57] Now, I don't know about you, but I appreciate the fact that the Bible includes that detail. [00:02:03] Then God tells him to reach out and grab it by the tail, which, by the way, is the exact opposite of how you should grab a snake. [00:02:13] And when Moses obeys, it turns back into a staff in his hands. Here's what I think God is showing him, what you have is enough. When you put it in God's hands, the staff didn't change because Moses got stronger. It changed because Moses let go of it and then picked it back up in obedience later in this same chapter, Chapter four is no longer called Moses staff. [00:02:44] Now it's called the staff of God. Same stick, different owner. [00:02:50] So let me ask you this. Just a thought, but let me ask you this. [00:02:55] In the midst of all that, I mean, here's what I believe God is showing him. [00:03:02] What you have really is enough. [00:03:06] What's in your hand? [00:03:08] Maybe it's a skill you've quit thinking about. Or a kitchen table where people feel welcome. Or a phone full of names of people who need a word of encouragement. Or maybe a story, something painful that you've survived. [00:03:23] We tend to look past what's in our hands because we're so busy, actually, so doggone busy staring at what's in somebody else's. [00:03:33] But God rarely starts with what you don't have. He starts with what you already are holding. [00:03:39] Now, Moses isn't done. In verse 10, he gives us his next excuse. And honestly, I would imagine some of us relate to it. It says this, but Moses pleaded with the Lord, oh, Lord, I'm not very good with words. I never have been and I'm not now. [00:03:58] Even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue tied and my words get tangled. [00:04:06] I love that. I love the fact that it's honest that Moses knew what he was weak at. [00:04:12] And listen to how gently and how firmly God answers. In verse 11 and 12, he says, who makes a person's mouth? Who decides whether people speak or don't speak? [00:04:26] Hear or do or don't hear. [00:04:29] See or don't see? [00:04:31] Is it not I, the Lord? [00:04:34] Now go. [00:04:35] I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say. [00:04:41] God doesn't sit there and argue with Moses about his weaknesses. He simply reminds him who made him. The one who called you knew exactly what he was getting when he called you. [00:04:56] He wasn't surprised by your limitations. He wasn't waiting for you to become someone else before he can use you. He says, I will be with you as you speak. [00:05:09] Your weakness is not a disqualification, y'. All. It's often the very place where God's strength shows up the very clearest. [00:05:19] I think a lot of us are waiting to feel ready. [00:05:22] We want training or confidence or more time, more of whatever we think we're missing. [00:05:28] But God keeps pointing back to our hands and says, start there. [00:05:33] I will be with you. [00:05:35] So today, take an honest, earnest inventory. Look at what's in your hand, the ordinary, familiar things you carry every day. [00:05:47] Then pray a very simple prayer. Lord. It's not much, but it's yours. Throw it down. Pick it back up. Watch what God can do with a plain old stick in the hands of somebody that is. You ready for it? Willing. All right, y', all, that's it for today. Use what you got, and I'll see you back here tomorrow for another weekday podcast. God bless you. Bye now.