– Exodus 4:2
Whatcha Got?
Moses was a shepherd. The once brilliant adopted son of Pharaoh now spent his days chasing after a wooly flock with a stick. What a turn of events. Where he once walked the marbled halls of palaces, and bathed in heated pools attended by servants, he now trod the dusty, rocky terrain of mountain folk, and he shared a cold bath with the animals he tended, in fact, he probably dried himself by grabbing the nearest lamb and making quick use of it's wooly back. Moses was poor, but he was very rich because he possessed the very thing that God would use over and over again to prove who He was to a stubborn people . . . Moses had a stick.
God used what Moses had. He toppled an Egyptian empire and freed an entire race from a life of bondage with the simplest, most basic, unassuming, shepherds staff. Moses had to be shaking in his sandals. I mean, he knew the might of Pharaoh's armies, and God expected him to casually stroll into his courts and instigate the greatest prison break in the history of the world (then and now), with only his stick? You gotta be kidding right?
But that's how God works sometimes. He takes the least of our talents and the tiniest and most basic of our abilities, and He tells us, "Go!"
No wonder we hesitate. I mean shouldn't we, as good Christians, be fully prepared to enter into God's work? Shouldn't we have a degree in Theology, and be verified by the "muckety-mucks" of this University or the "so-and-so's" of that Board of Regents, or at the very least we should be a regular Sunday School attender right? Hmmm, I'll have to think long and hard about that one, because according to God's Word, the folks He used to affect the greatest change in the history of the world, were shepherds, and farmers, and gypsies, and fishermen – just regular folk making a simple living. Oh there were some doctors, and lawyers, and tax consultants in there as well, and maybe even a politician or two, but the work each was called to, took them way outside of the realm of their training. God used what they had, but He used it in a way that would bring Him Glory. He took great delight in taking the least of man's abilities and using them to make His Name known throughout the world. He did it then, and He still does it today.
Now don't get me wrong, I fully believe in being prepared to do Gods work, and I believe even more in serving God with excellence, and using the talents He gave us to serve him wholeheartedly. But sometimes God just wants us to trust Him and to see what HE can do, despite what we think we "can't" do. If we will put aside the fear of the unknown and then let our pride take a much-needed holiday, God will work out all the details. He will supply the educational opportunities, and He will make a way for the tuition to be paid, and the resources to come in at just the right time. And the very thing we thought could never happen because we just didn't have it in us, will take root and blossom into more than we could have ever imagined, because He will show us that as long as He is in us, we can do anything.
So what is it that you have? What's your proverbial "stick?"
Let God, then Watch God . . . you'll be amazed at how wonderfully incapable you used to be.
Prayer
Father, search me, and take my pride that tells me I must be capable. Make me capable according to Your plans Lord. Use me, and show me how big You are through my inabilities. Help me to always rely on You – despite the me I think I can't be.
Have a Blessed day everyone!
– Richard
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