WHAT IS IN YOUR HAND?

Exodus Chapter 4 Verse 2 – “And the Lord said unto him, What is in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

Our God is an all-powerful God, a God capable of creating from absolutely nothing! But yet He still abides by certain tenets or may I say codes. He doesn’t just act because he can act, the scriptures in Psalm 138 verse 2 says as much: “……… for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name”. This in itself shows that God abides strictly to his utterances despite the fact that he is accountable to no one. God is a God of orderliness, he sets rules and laws to govern the universe and he ensures that they are adhered to fully. A display of this, is the way God has granted man the ability to make decisions of his own volition; this is the gift of free-will. He is the creator and can very well impose his wishes on us and in my opinion, that is his prerogative! If we are in doubt of the preceding statement, we need not look farther than man and his inventions. Man creates for certain purposes and he dictates that the purpose be explicitly and unconditionally met, but God (though he) created man to fear him and keep his commandment as can be seen in Ecclesiastes Chapter 12 Verse 13, (God) doesn’t impose it on us to do this, rather he has given the power to choose. No wonder the scriptures says in Deutronomy 30 Verse 15: “see, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;” Even Adam and Eve had this free will! For they could either decide to obey God and abstain from the forbidden fruit or disobey and do otherwise; as we all know, they did the latter. Joshua brought the Israelites to the realisation of this in Joshua 24 verse 15: “And if it seem evil unto you to serve Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve………….”

It is quite pertinent to note that God desires to use tools – you and me – to execute his plans and desires and this is inspite the fact that he doesn’t actually need us to achieve anything. The scripture in Luke 19 verse 37 - 40 says he could raise stones even if the disciples were to hold their peace (that is, stop praising him during the triumphal entry). When God wants to use a man or work with a man, he always start out with what he possesses. Dr. D.K. Olukoya once said that God will only start with what is in your hands before he advances to what you seek. The story of the talents is an apt illustration of this. They had to make use of what was in their hands before God gave them more! Another illustration of this, is from the text where we saw how God used what Moses had – the rod – to perform many great signs and wonders. Looking through the book of Judges Chapter 6 verse 11- 14, we see the call of Gideon and it is quite interesting to note that in verse 14 the Lord told Gideon to go in this his might! Implying that God was going to make use of what Gideon already had. Similarly we can also look at the widow of one of the sons of the prophet whom God through Elisha multiplied oil for the repayment of all her husbands’ debt. We can go on and on citing biblical examples to this effect.

It is now so clear why Jesus said in Matthew 17 Verse 20 that with Faith as little as a grain of mustard seed you shall say unto this mountain, remove yourself to yonder place and it shall remove. This is simply stating a fact that nothing is too little for God to use! The key is that you must identify the “little” and make use of it. God wants something in you to work with. It is in fact a given that all God needs is something little; that little input, that little commitment then he will multiply it. The scripture says in Isaiah 42 verse 8 I (God) will not give my glory to another. So when God is out to achieve something great with or through a man he ensures that he produces output/results from an impossible situation given what is available at hand! Gideon’s case is an example of this. God cut down the number to 300 men and used that inconsequential number to win great victories. God did something similar when with just shouts, a highly fortified city was left exposed due to the crumbling of their walls. No wonder the scripture says in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 27 I will use the foolish things of this earth to confound the wise. It is no wonder that God seems to root for the underdog. Throughout the scripture, God seemed to have a penchant for bringing men from obscurity to do mighty things. If we are in doubt, I will list a few: David, Jepthah, Gideon, Ruth, the Apostles and so many more. I now wonder if the words in Psalm 118 verse 22 which says the rejected stone has now become the cornerstone, is further backing to this allusion.

The onus therefore lies with us from now on going forward to identify what we have in our hands, use it and let God multiply it especially for his (God’s) work and ask God to takeover and do the rest, that all glory might be given back to him because of the mighty works he will do through you which would have been otherwise impossible without him.

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