What is that in your hand?

“So the Lord said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ He said, ‘A rod.’” Exodus 4:2

In Moses’ day, if you saw a man with a shepherd’s rod, you immediately knew a great deal about him. You would know his profession. You would discern his basic skill set and experience. You might surmise his business background and contacts. You would know much about the man’s lifestyle and where he spent his time. His rod represented his life and business background.

Just as Jesus told fishermen they would become “fishers of men” (Mark 1:17), so God drew on Moses’ skills and experience in his profession when He called him into divine service. Moses had spent four decades leading sheep through a hostile wilderness. God would draw on that same experience and skill when He called Moses to lead the Israelites in the wilderness for the next four decades.

People often belittle their ability to serve God because they have not earned an advanced theological degree or they do not possess sophisticated skills in public speaking. However, God has been training us for His service throughout our lives. God has led us to develop various skills and experiences in our profession that He intends to use to build His kingdom. Our successes as well as our failures will become instruments in God’s hand. Our business skills and contacts can be leveraged for God’s purposes. Our leadership ability, marketing savvy and entrepreneurial talents can all be maximized to accomplish God’s purposes. Just as the fishing skills Peter, Andrew, James, and John possessed became an asset to their ministry as apostles, so Moses discovered that his years herding sheep had not been a wasted period of his life. Rather, what had seemed like the worst period of Moses’ life had all been used by God to prepare him for the greatest assignment of his life.

God does not distinguish between the secular and the sacred. Everything is sacred when it belongs to God! What is in your hand? What skills, experiences, knowledge, and relationships has God placed in your life that He may choose to use for His purposes? God won’t ask you to use what He has placed in someone else’s hands. He will utilize what He has placed in your hands. Never minimize what God has done in your life. In God’s perfect timing He will reveal to you His perfect plan in shaping your life the way He has and giving you the perfect set of abilities to accomplish His purposes in your day.