Hey, Wha'cha got?

Imagine standing outside in your pajamas, a spatula in your hand, phone to your ear, listening as the President tells you he's chosen YOU as the one who will bring an end to the Iraqi conflict. Right away. Today.

After you convince yourself you are not sleepwalking, your next thought is: "What? ME? Are you kidding? I...I...c-can't do that. What do I know?"

That's exactly what Moses thought when God told him he'd been chosen to defy the most powerful ruler in the world, Egypt's Pharaoh. Moses had run out to the desert just to escape this guy, and now God was telling him to go back? And sass the man, too!

Imagine glancing down at your spatula, then at your pajamas, and wondering why you'd bothered to get up this morning.

If anyone ever felt too small for the job, it was Moses. But God wasn't the least bit concerned about Moses' opinion of himself. When God decides something, that's how it is and he makes sure all the components are in exactly the right spot---whether we think they look right or not.

"What's in your hand, Moses?"

Moses looked at the smooth stick he was holding and wondered where this was headed.

"Throw down your rod," God told him and it became a snake.

When he picked it up again, it turned back into a rod. But not just any rod. From then on, Moses referred to it as "the rod of God."

I love that phrase. It symbolizes what happens when God gets hold of something. He wants to accomplish much more in our lives than we could ever do by ourselves, but he can't do it while we're still holding on to our spatulas.

What do you have in your hand? Is it a passion? A dream? A talent? A skill that you've worked to develop and want to enjoy?

Maybe you don't feel you have anything in your hand. Maybe you're "just a mom," "just a janitor," "just a____." Fill in the blank. You've looked around at your life and you're pretty sure you don't have anything God could use to do great things.

Neither did Moses. How could God use an 80-year-old murderer-turned-shepherd with a walking stick?

Yet, when God gets hold of something, it becomes anything he wants it to become. That simple rod was the tool God used to defeat the greatest empire in the world at that time. With it God baffled the greatest minds and stumped the harshest critics.

Whatever you hold in your hand will never be all it can be
until you throw it down.

So what are you clinging to? What private dream, talent, skill, or goal are you afraid to throw down, afraid God won't know what to do with it?
Do you really want it to be limited by what you're capable of doing with it?

Wouldn't you rather be holding "the rod of God?"

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Whack! Whack!

"I did it my way!" has been America's theme song for the last couple of generations.

We applaud self-sufficiency, independence, and that "can-do" attitude. We cheer for the ones who defy convention and make a name for themselves. That tenacity often passes for character.

We are enthralled with our own potential.

Naturally, the world loves its warped logic, calling it tolerance. "Why can't we put a mosque on this corner next to the terrorist monument? One religion is as good as the next. And while we're at it, let's take "God Bless America" out of our repertoire. We don't need anyone's God to bless us. We are fine on our own."

Unfortunately, preachers are some of the worst offenders. "We're starting a new building project! The Lord is blessing us with so many new families, we've got to build! Don't have time to wait on God. With a five million dollar loan, we can be in our new building by next year, so turn in those pledge cards today!"

Average Christians do it too. "Sure I'll teach that Sunday School class. I've taught the past eight years. Don't necessarily hear God asking me to, but it needs done, so I'll do it."

Self-confidence is nothing we thought up. It has deep roots. It also has deep consequences. Remember this guy? "We need water. Badly. I'm so sick of this complaining. These Israelites are getting on my nerves. Last year I whacked a rock and a flood gushed out, so I'll just whack this baby again and stop this complaining. I think the Lord said to speak to it, but what the dif? God and me are buddies now. He'll bless anything I do."

Moses miscalculated and it cost him dearly. He called it confidence. God called it rebellion.

It seemed like such a little thing. What's the difference whether he spoke to the rock or hit the rock. Same rock. Same God. Couldn't God have played along with Moses? Made him look good in front of those grumbling Israelites?

God is not interested in playing our ego games and He takes disobedience very seriously. For that little act of arrogance, Moses lost the privilege of leading his people all the way into the Promised Land.

He'd taken them so far, been God's right hand man, witnessed miracles every time he turned around. Yet, God would deprive him of that one last victory march all because of over-confidence.

What about you?

What are you attempting that wasn't God's idea? We love to charge ahead, inform God of what we plan to do, then ask His blessing on it. And we wonder why often it flops. So we get mad at God.

Are you mistaking self-confidence for God's approval? Just because you are good at something doesn't mean you should do it. Just because it appears to bring results, doesn't mean it is from God.

Water did, in fact, come out of the rock when Moses whacked it in error. To everyone else it appeared that Moses was THE GUY. Wow! Watch him go!

But Moses knew it the moment he did it. God made certain of that. What Moses did to ensure a bit of quick admiration ended up costing him all the honor God wanted to give him.

How much are you forfeiting due to your own attitude of self-sufficiency?

Are you satisfied with man-sized results when you could be experiencing God-sized results?
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