What’s In Your Hand

Background Story: Moses was perfected positioned for the purposes God called him to even though he didn’t realize it at the time. Miraculously rescued from death as a child, he was raised in Pharaoh’s home being educated to read and write. His life changed dramatically when he killed a man for mistreating the Israelites and had to run away from Egypt because Pharaoh was going trying to kill him. In the desert, he met his wife and lived as a shepherd tending his father-in-law’s animals.

Read Exodus 3-4:2

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you[b] will worship God on this mountain.”

13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever,
    the name you shall call me
    from generation to generation.

16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

Big Idea: Bring God what’s in your hand in obedience.

God has uniquely placed you in this time, with your talents, in your circle of influence for God to use you for His glory!

So often we become discouraged by the needs in front of us. The darkness in our schools seems too dark to make a difference. The number of students following Jesus seems so few. The needs of the people seem so many. How can anything you or I do make a difference for the kingdom of God?

Moses felt this way when God called him at the burning bush to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt. The disciples felt this way when they stood before thousands of hungry men, women and children (Matthew 14:13-21). Moses knew his past, his weaknesses, and his fears. The disciples knew their poverty and inability to provide enough food to meet the need. But in both situations, God asked them to present what was in their hands. Like them, what you bring is not enough to meet the need. But as we respond in obedience, the Creator will take your small offerings and do the miraculous.

So today, offer God what is in your hands in surrender. Offer Him your past, present, and future. Offer your talents, uniqueness, situation, and friendships. Offer Him your fears, insecurities, and weaknesses. Offer all as worship. Then listen and respond in obedience and watch as He does “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” to Him be the glory!

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