By Pastor William Y. K. Brown Ph.D
(Resident Pastor)
Seventh-day Adventist Church
Osu-Bethel.
Tel: 0244165628/0243310773.
wykbrown@gmail.com
SABBATH
THEME: WHAT IS IN YOUR HAND?
SCRIPTURE: Exodus 4:2
‘So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”’
REFLECTIONS
This week, we have examined various questions God has asked His people. We conclude that God’s questions are very salient and essential in the believer’s life. His questions create awareness about what we are ignorant of and invite us to a divine-human partnership. His questions remind us to be conscious of the One we are dealing with – that we do not serve a mere god but the Creator, the Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent God. He is limitless, wonderful, a miracle worker, a life-giver, and an eternal and immutable God. The One who alone can change your destiny and restore hope in the most bizarre situations. The God who makes the impossible possible and the unlikely likely. Our God who has said, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11. His word will heal, restore, save, protect, deliver, and empower.
God is a planner. Because He is eternal, His plans are far-reaching and fulfilling. He is the only One who makes plans that take several thousands of years to fulfill and yet will be realized as determined and commanded. Sometimes, when God wants to step in, He asks questions to make you aware of your current situation, and then He takes you from there to a higher pedestal. Indeed, His questions are defining moments in the believer’s life. When our God asks questions, He is ready to perform a miracle. His questions clarify what He intends to do. Therefore, every child of God is blessed with such a gracious, powerful, and kind God. When He sends on a difficult assignment, He asks questions to alert you that He is with you and aptly in charge. You do not go in your strength but His power and presence when He sends you. He asks questions to bring to your attention numerous provisions He has made to make your errand feasible and successful. His questions are determined to provide confidence, fortitude, courage, boldness, and divine power. He knows no failure or defeat, so those He leads are billed for success and victory.
When it was time for God to deliver the Israelites from bondage as He had told Abraham 400 years earlier (Genesis 15:13-17), He unveiled His plan and outdoored the person He had prepared to accomplish the intervention. God took 80 years to prepare and equip Moses for this daunting task. The second 40 years of the period was a direct learning under heaven’s training in the wilderness. God had to reassure Him of His presence throughout the period He would be on the assignment. Moses looked at himself as God engaged him and perceived his insignificance, weakness, inadequacies, deficiency, and incapability. His actual condition scared him, and so he raised some objections to the appointment God was giving him. Moses’ third objection was his fear that the people would doubt God had sent him (Exodus 4:1,2). On this point, God had to allay his fears by asking an eye-opening possibility question. God asked, “What is that in your hand?” The question was intended to give Moses evidence of His presence and solid backing – that fear had no place in the pursuit. The question affirmed the divine-human collaboration on accomplishing God’s purpose.
To the question: “What is that in your hand?” he answered, “A rod.” God used this rod to aid Moses in delivering and leading His people. God empowered the mere rod and became Moses’ power to carry out the assignment. Beloved, what is that in your hand? A stick, a rod, a staff? God needs it. What is that in your hand, health, a piece of cloth (like Elijah’s mantle – 2 Kings 2:8), a handkerchief, or an apron (Acts 19:11-12)? If you allow the Lord to act, whatever is in your hand has been placed for holy use. For those who think they have nothing, those who feel incapable, and those filled with fear, God asks, what is that in your hand? Are you willing to cooperate and collaborate with the divine? God can turn things around you that you do not value to be your greatest asset and priceless possession. With Moses’ experience, God demonstrates His power to turn anything into a weapon of deliverance and success. Unless you have known the Lord, you may blame everyone except yourself that life has not been kind to you. But in the same breath, God may prove that trusting Him will make what you do not value a game changer in your life. He is capable, willing, and determined to bless and establish you. Just give Him what is in your hand, and He will give you victory.
MY SONG OF COMMITMENT
“God of the Mountain” – Lynda Randle
LET US PRAY
– Praise and thank God for His loving kindness; thank God for giving you hope in your periods of despair; pray to offer what is in your hand to God for Him to use to fulfill His promise in your life;
– Pray for leaders in your church, family, workplace, etc., to give to God what is in their hands for Him to empower them to achieve great things – pray that God will help them to know that which is in their hands;
– Pray for every believer who has sincerely given their life to Jesus to experience God’s power and presence in their service to God and humanity; pray for evangelists, missionaries, Bible Teachers, and pastors;
– Pray for God’s intervention in our country to turn around our abundant resources and accomplish His purpose for the citizens; pray for faithful and honest politicians and civil servants; pray for peace.
