Exodus 4:1–11
King James Version
“And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.” — Exodus 4:2
New American Standard Bible 1995
“The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.”” — Exodus 4:2
English Standard Version
“The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”” — Exodus 4:2
When I took a strengths assessment last month, the first word on the page was Strategic. I was not surprised. I have always been able to walk into a situation, read the patterns, connect the dots and make things happen. The Chinese say 无鉴不成商: without discernment, there is no business. That was my staff, and I gripped it tightly.
The trouble is not the staff. It is whose hand is holding it. For years I used that gift to serve one master: myself. I read people so I could win. I saw openings so I could take them. Every plan pointed back to my own pleasure and my own name, and a gift pointed at yourself becomes a snare. It led me to my downfall. I know what it is to stand in the ruins of your own cleverness and realise that seeing clearly is not the same as walking rightly.
Moses knew something of this. He had once acted on his own strength and judgement, and fled. Then came forty years in Midian with a plain shepherd’s rod (Acts 7:29–30). When God met him at the bush, Moses was full of objections: they will not believe me, I am slow of speech. God did not start by handing him something new. He asked, “What is that in thine hand?”
The same stick that had guided sheep would later be stretched towards the sky before the hail fell (Exodus 9:23), and lifted over the sea so that Israel walked through on dry ground (14:16). Nothing about the wood changed. What changed was that it now belonged to God.
That is my story too. The same eye for patterns now asks what a young barista needs before he says it. The same urge to organise now lays out an Academy timetable, a placement with a halfway house, a Crossroads session plan. Last Monday our café at Gateway East opened its doors, and I watched the staff God had repurposed doing His work: making room for people the world had written off.
I still have to open my hand every morning. The old grip returns quickly, the pull to make my plans about me. So I lay the staff down again, and let Him pick it up.
Whatever is in your hand today, your skill, your scars, your story, it is not too small or too stained. Offer it back.
Prayer
Loving God, thank You that You did not throw away what I misused, but redeemed it. Help me to see how You are using my gifts in fresh ways, and keep my hand open, so that everything I hold is Yours. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” — 1 Peter 4:10 (KJV)
The Caffeine Experience · Brewing Coffee & Second Chances
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