What is that in your Hand?
Israel Is Enslaved
- 1875 BC – Joseph brings his father Isaac to Egypt to escape famine – 70 people.
- 1450 BC. – 2 million+ descendants (foreigners) are enslaved to build store cities.
- Moses, an Israelite, raised in Pharaoh’s court.
- Tries to resist oppression but fails.
- God meets him in a burning bush.
- Moses argues with God about setting his people free – “What if they don’t believe me?”
“What is That in Your Hand?”
- A simple shepherd’s rod.
- In the hand of a man like any other man – nothing extraordinary.
- God told him to throw it down, and he did.
- God did something extraordinary with it.
Obedience
- God often calls us to do something to see if we trust Him enough to obey Him, even when it doesn’t make sense to us.
- God can’t use anything we’ve got until we obediently let go of it.
- God doesn’t really have us until He has what’s in our hand.
- As long as we’re in God’s hand, all God needs is what’s in our hand.
The Ordinary
- God doesn’t need strength, beauty, wealth, education, intelligence, experience, or talent, just what’s in our hand.
- God can use anybody as long as He can have what’s in their hand.
- None of us has the same thing in our hand, but all of us have something that God can use to do something miraculous.
Spiritual Growth
- God often calls us to do things we’re not comfortable doing, in order to stretch us.
- He is always patient with us as He helps us to grow in our faith.
- God loves to increase our trust in His power by operating in the miraculous and supernatural.
- God doesn’t need our ability, just our availability.
What We Don’t Have
- God never asks us to give what we don’t already have – He always uses what we have.
- God doesn’t ask us to go off and get something so we can give it to Him.
- But most of us use what we don’t have to keep us from doing what we can do.
- We look for something that will help us feel that we can do what God calls us to do – but that’s usually something we don’t have now.
Failure to Obey
- We will never know the full potential of what could be done until we offer it to God.
- Moses’ rod would have been just a rod; we would never have heard of him; and a nation would have stayed in slavery.
- What is happening right now as we hold onto what’s in our hand, instead of giving it to God?
Major Principles
- God will not force us to give up anything, but when we willingly offer it to Him, He can do great things with it.
- We never really have what’s in our hand until we give it to God. Once we give it to God, He gives it back to be used for His glory.
- We will never be all that we were meant to be until we give what’s in our hand to God.
- Nothing we may have is any better than Moses’ simple rod if it stays in our own hand.
- We can do more with what’s in our hand once we give it to God.
- God does not expect perfection; we all have weaknesses. He’s looking for willingness.
- Being used by God begins now – without becoming better, developing perfect skills, or knowing all the answers to life’s hard questions.
Biblical Examples
- What was in their hand?
- A lamp, a pitcher, and a trumpet – Gideon (Judges 7).
- A sling and a stone – David (1 Samuel 17).
- Two mites – a widow (Luke 21:1-4).
- Five loaves and two fish – a boy (John 6:1-15).
- A piece of parchment – Martin Luther.
- A pen – John Bunyan “A Pilgrim’s Progress”.
What is in Your Hand?
- A broom?
- A brush?
- A pen?
- A cheque book?
- A car?
- A camera?
- A wrench?
- A rake?
- A book?
- An instrument?
- A song?