Using Simple Things

God sent Moses to lead his children out of Egypt. When God appeared to Moses in a burning bush, in Exodus 3, Moses was not convinced that he had anything significant. Moses did not consider himself skilled enough to face Pharaoh. He thought it was a difficult task to ask Pharaoh to let God’s people go. God outlined for Moses what he wanted him to do and what he should say to Pharaoh and the people. Even after God answered most of his questions, Moses was still doubtful. “So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod”” (Exodus 4:2).

God instructed Moses to throw his rod on the ground, and it became a snake and Moses ran away. God told Moses to take the snake by it’s tail. Moses held the snake and it transformed back into his rod. There was nothing significant about the rod. This was the thing that Moses had available at the time, so God used it. Moses and Aaron used the rods to demonstrate God’s power to Pharoah. The magicians and sorcerers also threw down their rods which became serpents. The difference was that Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

Moses’s rod was featured again significantly at the crossing of the Red Sea. God instructed Moses to stretch out his hand over the Red Sea, which parted and allowed the Israelites to cross over safely. Most people assume that Moses used the hand in which he carried the rod. Either way, this rod which Moses used was a piece of wood which shepherds used to guide sheep. It became significant because God used it. We see similar accounts with Elijah’s mantle in the hand of Elisha (2 Kings 2:14). The five fish and two loaves was used to fed five thousand people (John 6:1-14).

There were other accounts in the New Testament, where Jesus used saliva and mud to restore sight to the blind. The handkerchiefs and aprons of the disciples were used to administer healing. My parents once boiled the pages of a Christian magazine and made tea for my brother who was sick. This was after his hospital appointments and medication didn’t work. These magazine pages became a feature in our house because my brother received healing from the tea. It was the faith of my parents and the impartation from the Holy Spirit that created the remedy for healing.

God will use whatever you have that you are willing to surrender to him. You don’t have to feel qualified and fully equipped for God to use you. What God needs is a heart surrendered to him and a will that is submitted to his purpose. God is all powerful, all knowing, omnipotent and omnipresent. He made everything and nothing exists without Him. If God could make mankind from dirt, what is beyond his scope to do? Don’t limit God to what you can wrap your mind around. Trust Him and let him use what you have.

A.P.-Y.