Day 9 with Moses: Your stuff submitted to God becomes God’s stuff.

“So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”

Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭4:2, 20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

It’s human nature; we want to control our stuff. But allow me to present a scenario.

Suppose you had any kind of greatly loved and valued possession; let’s say it’s a family heirloom grandfather clock. Now let’s imagine that the grandfather clock is seized up and nothing is working. You’re no longer hearing the beautiful chimes and the time on it is stuck at 7:25. Would you set out to try to repair the grandfather clock, having no experience in those sorts of repairs? Of course not! You would find someone trained to fix vintage grandfather clocks and submit it to their care, knowing they can do what you can’t do.

Now let’s take it up a notch (or several notches). Let’s say your child has something terribly wrong with them and they need surgery to save their life. Would you set in to try to do that surgery, or would you submit their care to a trained surgeon to do what needs to be done? Of course, we all know the answer to that.

Now—in light of these two examples I have presented—we might then wonder why it is so difficult for us to put what is our stuff, or pertaining to our lives, into the hand of the Lord? Is He not the creator of all things and therefore the expert on…EVERYTHING?

If you ever went to Sunday school for any length of time, you have heard the story of the little boy with five loaves and two fish with which Jesus fed 5000 men (if the women and children were included you can see how that number would geometrically be increased).

“There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.”

‭‭John‬ ‭6:9, 11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Now, this little boy could have eaten his lunch, and would’ve had every right to do so. Yet this little boy—taking what was rightfully his and placing it in the hand of the Master—supplied food for a multitude! And, I would imagine he got the lion’s share of the 12 baskets of leftover bread fragments.

Your stuff is yours; you are free to do with it as you please. Unless, of course, there are things beyond your control that take it from you or destroy it. Additionally, it can only prosper according to your ability. But, when you submit your life and your stuff to the Lord, it becomes His. And when it becomes His, it is now operating according to His power and is subject to His protection, care and keeping. Now that seems like a very easy decision to make.

Jesus—in speaking of His personal sacrifice—said something that can also be applied to anything we put in His hands:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

‭‭John‬ ‭12:24-25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Today we find Moses in the midst of his encounter with God, still questioning what he will do to be able to prove to the people that he was sent by the Lord. The Lord points Moses to the rod that was in his hand. You know how the Lord made the rod turn into a snake and how that would be used later in the court of Pharaoh.

What I want to point out to you today is the difference between the first verse in our reading (Exodus 4:2) and the next verse (Exodus 4:20). Notice, the rod started out as Moses’ rod, but then is referenced in verse 40 as “the rod of God in his hand.” And—as we see as we go further into our journey with Moses—that rod would be used to bring great and mighty miracles during the escape from Egypt.

Please know, you can put walls around your life and your stuff, making sure you have complete control; good “luck” with that. Or, you can submit everything into the hand of the Lord. Now, I’m not talking about giving all your stuff away and becoming a monk on a mountain. What I’m talking about is having the attitude that whatever God asks of your life—or of your stuff—is done.

For today let us discover what Moses discovered:

Your stuff submitted to God becomes God’s stuff.

#40dayswithmoses