August 30 | Bible in a Year: Psalms 129-131; 1 Corinthians 11:1-16

What’s in Your Hand?

Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. Exodus 4:2

READ Exodus 4:1-5

A few years after I received salvation and dedicated my life to God, I felt Him directing me to lay down my journalism career. As I put down my pen and my writing went into hiding, I couldn’t help feeling that one day God would call me to write for His glory. During my years of wandering in my personal wilderness, I was encouraged by the story of Moses and his staff in Exodus 4.

Moses, who was raised in Pharaoh’s palace and had a promising future, fled Egypt and was living in obscurity as a shepherd when God called him. Moses must’ve thought he had nothing to offer God, but he learned that the Lord can use anyone and anything for His glory.

“What is that in your hand?” God asked. “A staff,” Moses replied. God said, “Throw it on the ground” (Exodus 4:2-3). Moses’ ordinary staff became a snake. When he grabbed the snake, God turned it back into the staff (vv. 3-4). This sign was given so the Israelites would “believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you” (v. 5 ). As Moses threw down his staff and took it back up again, I laid down my career as a journalist in obedience to God. Later, He guided me to pick up my pen again, and now I’m writing for Him.

We don’t need much to be used by God. We can simply serve Him with the talents He’s given us. Not sure where to start? What’s in your hand?

By Nancy Gavilanes

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

We would think that the staff turning into a snake would be convincing to Pharaoh and his court when Moses and Aaron appeared before them. Note that it was Aaron, not Moses, who threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh (Exodus 7:8-10). However, Pharaoh’s magicians were able to replicate this miracle (v. 11). How did they do it? Some scholars say it was through trickery and deceit. Others, however, believe it was through the power of the evil one, the devil. Intriguingly, the apostle Paul notes how “Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses” (2 Timothy 3:8 ). Although these names aren’t recorded in the Old Testament, they were known to Paul, a highly educated man, through other Near Eastern literature and were likely two of Pharaoh’s magicians. Regardless, Aaron’s staff in the form of a snake devoured the snakes produced by those magicians (Exodus 7:11-12), proving the vast superiority of the one true God.