Moses was still unwilling to go, but God was patient, and there is much for us to learn in His ways with His servant. Unbelief can always find an excuse. We know only too well how often we make excuses when we simply do not want to obey.
Moses had his shepherd’s rod in his hand, and God used just what he had. Once he had been the well-educated son of Pharaoh’s daughter, “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds,” (Acts 7:2222And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. (Acts 7:22)) but no doubt after forty years on the backside of the desert he had forgotten a good deal of that. He was just a poor shepherd with a rod, but God could use him as he was. God did not need all the wisdom of the Egyptians to accomplish His purposes. God might use Moses’s education, just as He used his rod here, but the rod in his hand was enough at this time. Anything more and Moses might have boasted. If we are willing to let God use what little we have-whether it be a rod or five smooth stones as David had-God can accomplish His purposes through us. What He won’t allow is for His servants to take any praise or credit for themselves. We do not have to chase after things such as money or education to use for God. Instead let us, like Moses, be faithful in using what is in our hands now, and God will give us more if He sees the need. If God had wanted someone with position and influence, He could have used Moses while he was in Pharaoh’s court, but then Moses could have boasted of what he had done.
“O keep us, love divine, near Thee,
That we our nothingness may know,
And ever to Thy glory be
Walking in faith while here below.”
Miracles That Teach Lessons
There were three miracles which the Lord performed through Moses, and they have very important lessons for all of us if we are going to serve the Lord acceptably. In the first miracle, Moses’s rod was thrown down and became a serpent, and Moses fled from before it. The serpent represents Satan, and we need to realize his power. We are living in days when many people deny that there is a devil, but we want to warn our readers here and now that Satan is a real being with real power. Furthermore, every unsaved person is under Satan’s power, for he is the god and prince of this world. Only the Lord Jesus can set you free. Here it was only when Moses, in obedience to the word of God, put forth his hand and took the serpent by the tail, that he was delivered. Only the Word of God, used in the power of the Spirit, will give us the victory in times of conflict with the enemy. The Lord Jesus Himself answered all Satan’s temptations by saying, “It is written,” and we may well do the same. Now, even at school, children are being taught to doubt the Word of God (the Bible), and our message to you is like that of a father some years ago,
“Oh cling to the Bible, my boy!”
Never allow a doubt to enter your mind as to that precious Book, for if you do, you have allowed the devil to come into your house, and there is no telling where he will stop.
Further Meditation
1. Who is represented by a serpent in the Bible?
2. Besides Moses’s rod and David’s stones, what other “little” things does God make use of in the Bible?
3. Speaking of little things, song number 80 in Let’s Sing About Jesus gives a very memorable presentation of how God uses little things.