Signs for the Doubter – When God Uses What’s in Your Hand
The fire had long ceased to be the center of Moses’ fear—it was now the weight of the call. God had spoken. He had revealed His name. He had promised His presence. And yet, Moses hesitated.
“But what if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” Moses' voice trembled with what many of us feel when we're called to something bigger than ourselves: doubt.
So God, in His mercy, meets Moses in that doubt—not with rebuke, but with power. “What is that in your hand?” He asks.
“A staff,” Moses replies.
It’s just a stick—ordinary, weather-worn, a tool of a shepherd. But when God commands Moses to throw it down, it becomes a snake. And when Moses picks it up again by the tail, it becomes a staff once more. Then, God tells him to place his hand inside his cloak. When Moses pulls it out, it is leprous—white as snow. When he puts it back in and removes it again, it is healed.
Still, Moses resists. “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent... I am slow of speech and tongue.” Insecurity now fully surfaces. Moses sees himself as unqualified. But again, God doesn’t respond with a pep talk. He says, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute?... Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
Even then, Moses pleads, “Please send someone else.” And this time, God’s patience gives way to righteous anger—not because Moses was imperfect, but because Moses was refusing to trust. Yet even in His anger, God remains gracious. He appoints Aaron, Moses’ brother, to speak on his behalf, saying, “I will help both of you speak.”
What seems ordinary in your life may become miraculous when surrendered to the will of the great I AM.