After giving way to a Christmas message, allow me to resume the series of biblical reflections on the book of Exodus. This time we will revisit Moses' response to the Lord's calling.
Each man has a vocation in life. It is different from your job. You are blessed if your job is your calling. Someone made a distinction between the two. Job is the work you do to put food on your table whereas calling is something that you find joy in doing whether you accept pay or not.
For those who are called to the gospel ministry, God wants to use them in a mighty way. He wants them to become His instruments to perform His great deeds. Unfortunately, when God calls a person, the tendency is to make excuses. We look into ourselves and see our limitations:
I am weak. I don't know how to speak. I have so many problems. People will not believe me.
These are familiar excuses. Moses did the same thing.
When God called Moses to deliver Israel out of Egypt, he said that the Israelites would not believe him and that he was not a good speaker. In reality, he was unwilling to go. And so God was angry with him.
When Moses said that people would not believe him, God asked him about the "thing" in his hand. It was a staff, a rod, a stick of wood. That rod was a shepherd's staff that Moses had been using perhaps for 40 years. God directed Moses' attention to his staff to show him that God could use a piece of wood to perform wonders in Egypt and before the eyes of the Jews. That would settle Moses' excuses.
By using a stick of wood to perform wonders, God is telling us that when He calls us, we should stop looking upon ourselves, our situation, our problems, and the people around us, but focus instead on what He can do. If God can use such a stick of wood, He can use anyone. If God can use a lifeless object, He can use humans better for we are created in His image. It is only disobedience that prevents us from becoming mighty tools in God's hands. The most important truth to understand the way God used the staff of Moses is that such an ordinary staff became "the staff of God" (Exodus 4:20).
And so reflecting on this article, a relevant question to ask is this:
Am I God's?
That is the key. When you become God's, then He can use you in ways that are beyond your expectations. He can use you in extraordinary ways.
And so in this article, let us explore this interesting insight about Moses' staff and apply this truth to our lives.
When you become like Moses' staff, God can use you as a tool of judgment to those who refuse to believe the gospel.
With the staff in his hand, God commanded Moses to challenge the most powerful nation of his time by performing wonders. During the initial confrontation, the wizards of Egypt could perform the same wonders using demonic power. But as the confrontation between God's power and demonic power progressed, the wizards ultimately recognized the hand of God. But despite the display of God's power, Pharaoh refused to recognize the word of God and set Israel free. And so God used Moses' staff to judge Egypt. Through the rod, Moses turned the Nile river into blood, and sent frogs, lice, thunder and hail, and locusts (Exodus 7:15-17; 8:1-10:15). God used Moses' staff as a tool to execute judgment and destruction upon Egypt.
All of us are called to share the gospel of Jesus. However, not everyone will believe our testimony. Some ridicule us for believing the gospel of Jesus. That is consistent with the testimony of the apostle Paul. He said that for those who are perishing, we are an aroma that brings death (2 Corinthians 2: 15-16).
When you become like Moses' staff, God can use you as a tool of deliverance to many.
Finally, as a result of God's judgment upon Egypt, Pharaoh’s grip on the Hebrews was shaken loose, and he let the people go. But then he changed his mind and ordered his armies to pursue the Israelites. When the Egyptian army came upon them, the Hebrews were terrified for they were caught in a place where there was no way to escape. With mountains on one side of them, the sea on the other, and the Egyptian army pursuing them, God said to Moses:
Raise your staff! (Exodus 14:16).
What good is it to lift a stick of wood when a nation is caught in a deadly trap? It seems foolish in the eyes of the world. But since the rod that had been raised was the rod of God, the Red Sea was divided into two and the Jews passed through it. The staff that had been used for judgment and destruction upon Egypt was also used as a staff of deliverance for the Jews.
This brings to mind what the apostle Paul said in the New Testament:
For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life (2 Corinthians 2:15-16).
When you become like Moses' staff, God can use you as a tool of supply.
Later, Moses' staff became a staff of supply. In Rephidim the people desperately needed water. And the Lord said unto Moses:
Go on before the people, and take with you the elders of Israel and your rod, with which you strike the Nile, take in your hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb: and you shalt strike the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink (Exodus 17:5-6).
It must have been an amazing sight to stand before a great rock and to see a rod struck against it, and then to watch torrents of life-giving water flow out to satisfy thousands upon thousands of people and their livestock. The giver of judgment became the giver of life. It was not magic. There was nothing in the staff itself. Moses' staff had simply become the staff of God.
When you become like Moses' staff, God can use you as a tool of victory.
Moses' staff was also a staff of victory. In their battle against the Amalekites, the staff brought military victory to Israel as it was held up by Moses supported by the hands of Aaron and Hur. Moses' staff was more powerful than the swords of either the Jews or their enemies (Exodus 17:9).
Conclusion
In this article, we learn the mighty ways God used a dead stick of wood. God using a wood stick can be a banner cry for each of us. Though we are limited and weak in talent, physical energy, and psychological strength, we are no less than a stick of wood. If God can use a stick of wood, I think God can use any one of us as his tool of judgment, deliverance, supply, and victory.
Grace and peace!
Note: I got the initial idea of this reflection three decades ago after reading a chapter in one of Francis Schaeffer's books, a Christian philosopher who established the L'Abri community in Switzerland. I forgot which volume. If I am not mistaken, the title of the chapter is "Little Things."