Lay Down What’s In Your Hand

When God prepares us and calls us to a specific task, it is pointless to fall back on excuses – for one of God’s principles is that when His finger points the way, His hand then opens to supply our every need. Do not forget that the task ahead of us is never as great as the power behind us.

Do you remember the story of Moses, how God used Him to rescue God’s people from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land? During the time Moses heard God is calling and commissioning him to lead Israel out of bondage, Moses’ initial response to this call is to offer one excuse after another. First: “Who am I, that I should go” (Exodus 3:11). Second: “What shall I say Your name is?” (Exodus 3:13). Third: “What if they do not believe me?” (Exodus 4:1). Fourth: “I have never been eloquent… I am slow of speech and tongue” (Exodus 4:10). Even after God answered his excuses, Moses still asks that someone else should be sent instead (Exodus 4:13). The Lord asked him, “What’s in your hand?” (Exodus 3-4).

What Moses had in his hand was a shepherd’s staff. It actually represented three things in his life. First, his identity. He was a shepherd and his staff was the very symbol of his career, his ministry, his job – his identity. Second, his income. All that he owned in assets were tied up in sheep. All he owned was invested in his flock. Third, his influence. He used his staff to get his sheep from where they were to where he wanted them to be, either by pulling or poking them.

“Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff. When God commanded Moses to lay down what was in his hand, He was actually asking him to lay down his identity, income and influence. When Moses did this, God made the staff come alive! And each time Moses picked it up, it turned back into a lifeless staff. From that moment on, it was never again referred to as Moses’ staff. It was then called “the rod of God”. With it, the Red Sea was split and the nation of Israel walked through dry ground, the Nile River turned to blood, the ten plagues of Egypt became ten miracles for Israel, and stones in dry deserts even turned into springs.

If you give God what’s in your hand – if you ask Him to use you – He will perform miracles through you. Lay down your identity, your income, your influence. Allow God to move through you. It’s not about you, your money or your ego. It’s all about God and His plans and purposes. Pray this simple prayer: “Use me.” Pray this from your heart today.

Before you could lay down what’s in your hand, you need to receive Jesus into your heart and accept the free gift of eternal life. Say this prayer today…

“Lord Jesus, thank you so much for loving me. I am so sorry for my sins. Thank you for dying on the cross for all of my sins. With your help, I will turn away from all my sins. Today, I trust in you to be my Lord and Savior and I receive you into my heart. Thank you for forgiving my sins and for coming into my heart. I accept your free gift of eternal life. Thank you for that one day, I will go home to you in heaven. From this day on, I am willing to lay down what’s in my hand – my identity, my income, my influence. I will follow and obey you. Amen.