A family was awakened by their smoke detector in the middle of the night to discover that their house was on fire. The father ran into the upstairs bedroom of his children and carried his eighteen-month-old baby in his arms while dragging his four-year-old son by the hand. They were halfway down the stairs when the little boy remembered that he had left his teddy bear in the bedroom, so he broke free from his father’s hand and ran back to the bedroom to retrieve it. In the furor and confusion, the father didn’t notice that his son wasn’t with him until he got outside. By now the little boy was trapped by the flames and smoke in his second-story bedroom. Smoke swirled around him and he coughed and cried out from the upstairs window, “Daddy, Daddy! Help me!” His father yelled from below, “Jump out of the window, Andy! I’ll catch you!” In the darkness and smoke, the little boy yelled back, “But Daddy! I can’t see you!” Daddy shouted back, “That’s okay, son. I can see you! Jump!”
It’s jumping time for Moses. God has called Moses to deliver His people. Moses had an anxiety attack and began to offer a series of excuses to the Lord about God’s calling on his life. More or less he is saying, “Lord, I can’t see you!” God tells him, “I can see you through the smoke so go ahead and jump!” God has promised to meet his needs and equip him for victory, yet, he is still struggling with doubt and disbelief. Sound familiar? We do the same thing too sometimes, don’t we? In verse one of this chapter, Moses offers the third of five excuses. Let’s take a look.
Moses tells the Lord, “Suppose your people won’t believe me?”
Moses was a sensitive person. He has tasted the bitter dish of rejection and doesn’t want to taste it again. Do you understand what he is feeling? We often build up events in our minds and then worry over what might go wrong.
Fear and worry tend to cloud our thinking and they create doubt in the promises of God. Worry makes us question God’s Word and makes us wonder if His Word works. When Moses was 40, he had considerable credentials. After 40 years in the desert, he had no credentials with the Egyptians. He was only a shepherd who was considered a nobody in Egypt. He had gone from a prince to a pauper in the eyes of the Egyptians. Authority was needed for Moses’ task, but he needed to determine whose authority was the most important, his or God’s. The same holds true for us. Are we going to run the show or trust God and let Him lead our lives?
There are several insights that we will see here. First of all, we will note the lesson of God’s grace. Moses was human just like you and me. He was timid, hesitant, fearful, unbelieving, and rebellious, yet God used this man in spite of his weaknesses.
God calls imperfect people, but he equips them for His service. His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. Realize that God does want to use you for His glory and service. He knows you, your strengths and weaknesses, and He has a plan and purpose for your life if you are willing to follow it. You are not a blob in a sea of faces. You are special to Him.
When equipped we learn the difference between self-confidence and God-confidence.
Self-confidence says, “I can or can’t do this.” God-confidence says, “I can do all things through Christ.” Self-confidence relies on personal plans, or abilities. God-confidence relies on God’s power, faith, trust in His Word, and His abilities.
Moses also needed to be equipped for life from God’s point of view. He failed to see what God was attempting to accomplish in his life in spite of his personal failures. Our failures and fears tend to blind us too.
God responded to Moses’ concerns by giving him some object lessons to ease his worry, escalate his faith, and exhibit His power. The Lord asked, “What’s in your hand Moses?” He replied, “A rod.” The question was not asked to give God information He did not have. The Lord knows everything, and knew what was in Moses’ hand. The question was asked to direct Moses’ attention to what he had in his hand. If we are going to do anything for God, we must be willing to give to God what is in our hand. If we are stingy and unwilling, we will hinder God’s work, and miss out on opportunities of serving and blessing others and being blessed by God.
The rod in Moses’ hand was his shepherd crook or staff which was normally about three to six feet long. It certainly was nothing special to look at, and Moses saw nothing special in it, but the Lord did. When it was yielded to God, it would do much for God. God would use this insignificant rod to perform miracles involving snakes, plagues, parting the Red Sea, and bringing forth water out of rock.
We make the mistake, many times, in appraising what is in our hands as insignificant. We think that our abilities, talents or gifts are of no value to the Lord, but they are very valuable. God’s use of Moses’ rod demonstrates that He can use insignificant things to do great work for Him if they are yielded to His control. On the other hand, great abilities can be wasted if they are not surrendered to Christ. What are the ordinary things in your life—your voice, a pen, a hammer, a broom, a musical instrument?
The question “What is in your hand?” can also be a question of examination or probing. Do you have something in your hand that you should not have? Do you have something in your hand that will defile you, hurt you, cause trouble for yourself or others, and dishonor the Lord Jesus Christ? Are there drugs, alcohol, pornography, or another person’s things in your hands?
God gives several commands to Moses concerning the rod that he carried. The commands may have not made sense to Moses and were difficult to obey, yet, that is what Moses did. By so doing, he learned some important lessons that would help him for his coming task.
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.
Moses was to throw the rod on the ground. When he did this, it turned into a snake. He responded like most of us would, he ran. Obviously, it really was a snake! The fact that it became a snake is significant since the serpent was worshiped in Egypt.
The cobra was on the headdress of the Pharaoh of Egypt. The cobra was the emblem of the goddess Buto, patroness of Lower Egypt. The cobra, with its encircling wings and disc of the sun, represented the indissoluble union of Pharaoh and his two kingdoms. The War Crown of the Pharaoh had blue leather studded with gold, and was encircled by the Uraeus or cobra symbol. So the serpent was revered in this country, being honored by adorning the king’s crowns. It was then a symbol of Pharaoh. The fact that the rod turned to a snake is significant. When Moses ran from the snake, we are reminded of his flight from Egypt.
Another thought we will address here. When Moses let go of what he was grasping and let God do what He wanted to do, the Lord then took something that was ordinary and turned it into something that was extraordinary. He took something that was dead and made it come alive. Does not the Lord do this for us? When we surrender our lives and abilities to the Lord, He takes those things and makes something extraordinary and alive out of them.
Then God instructed Moses to pick up the snake. What! Run that by me again! God wanted Moses to pick up the snake and he was to pick it up by the tail, not the head. Moses courageously, obediently, and trustingly picked up the snake. It changed into his rod again when he did this. One message from this incident was Moses needed to return to Egypt, confront the Pharaoh, and God would restore him just as he restored the rod. There are a number of other lessons and insights that are found in this miracle that we will address.
The rod was a shepherd’s rod. It gave him support as he walked. It comforted him when he was weary. It defended him when he was in danger. The rod was the extension of the owner’s right arm. It was a symbol of strength, power, and authority. This rod of Moses was a symbol of God’s spoken Word. It was the extended activity of the mind of God and His will with men as we will soon see. The rod implied the authority of God. ” The rod of God today, the tool of His power, authority, and mind is the Word of God… the written Word and the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.
As the rod comforted the shepherd, our Lord and the Bible comfort us. As the shepherd would use the rod to keep the sheep from dangerous situations and poisonous weeds, God’s Word and the Holy Spirit warn us of the dangers and destruction of sin and the poisonous philosophies of this world.
When Moses cast the rod to the ground, and ran from the serpent, we are reminded of Christians who cast the Bible down in their own lives and become fearful and defeated by the old serpent, Satan. We are to put on God’s armor in our lives. Without it, we are powerless. We also need to understand that God’s commands are not to be feared. God does what is best for us and what will bring honor and glory to Him.
God sometimes takes joy in using ordinary things for extraordinary purposes. What are the ordinary things in your life—your voice, a pen, a hammer, a broom, a musical instrument? While it is easy to assume God can use only special skills, you must not hinder his use of the everyday contributions you can make. Little did Moses imagine the power his simple staff would wield when it became the staff of God.
The rod was a symbol of foolishness to the Egyptians, yet, God used it as a tool of His authority. The Bible continues to be mocked today, yet it is the authority on life and eternal life. The Bible is the authority on creation, history, science, finances, health, marriage, child training, government, salvation, and future events. No matter who mocks it, it does not change because it is truth. Evolutionists can propagate their nonsense, but it does not change that fact that their Creator is God, whether they like it or not.
Doing what God wants us to do takes courage. Courage comes, however, from resting in Him and putting your confidence in the Lord. God’s ways do not always seem logical to us, yet, we are to trust Him by faith. We are not to question His Word, just obey it. All throughout the Bible we find verses that may seem illogical, yet, obedience to them brings blessings.
- Bless those who persecute you.
- Love your enemies.
- Be the greatest by being the servant.
- Get by giving.
- Surrender to the Lord if you want freedom and victory.
- Strength comes through weakness.
- Exaltation comes through humility.
- The first place comes by being last.
The purpose of this passage is that God equips those He calls with His Word, with what He has put in our hands: our gifts, talents, abilities and experiences. And His presence.
Once upon a time a group of mice lived in a large piano. They loved their piano world and the music that often came to them, filling all the dark spaces with sound and harmony. At first the mice were impressed by it. They drew comfort and wonder from the thought that there was someone who made the music. Although this someone was invisible to them, he felt close to them. They loved to think about the Unseen Player whom they could not see.
Then one day a daring mouse climbed up part of the piano and returned in a very thoughtful mood. He had made a discovery which revealed how the music was made. Wires were the secret. He had found tightly stretched wires of graduated lengths which trembled and vibrated. Now the mice had to revise all their old beliefs. Only the most conservative mice could believe any longer in the Unseen Player.
Later, another mouse explorer returned from an expedition with yet a new discovery about the origins of the music. Hammers were the true secret! There were dozens of hammers that danced and leaped upon the wires! This was a more complicated theory, but it all went to show that they lived in a purely mechanical universe. The Unseen Player came to be thought of as a myth. Meanwhile… the Unseen Player continued to play.
God is our unseen player. He is watching over you and me. Any attempts that men use to to discredit God as the Creator and Savior of the universe or His Word will not last. God is in Control; He Calls and He Equips His people.
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