The staff is mightier than the sword

Scripture I'm reflecting on:  Exodus 4:2
     "Then the Lord asked him, "What is that in your hand?"  "A shepherd's staff," Moses replied.

Moses was being asked to stand up to a mighty pharaoh.  Was he equipped with a mighty sword, a fierce axe, an intimidating spear?  Nope, just a shepherd's staff.  Moses was no doubt ill-equipped to take on the leaders of Egypt.  But God took something that seemed to irrelevant  a staff, and made it into one of the most powerful symbols in the history of Christianity.

Reflection:
Do you ever feel ill-equipped in life?

My spiritual enthusiasm has been fading this week and I can't really figure out why.  I've begun to question whether I've truly made the changes necessary to be really walking with God, and whether the things I thought I heard from God were maybe just things I created because I wanted to hear them.  Sure I've made lifestyle changes, but is that enough?  Sure I've felt things on my heart that I hadn't before, but is this really God speaking to me, or just what I want to believe?  Needless to say, I've been questioning a lot of what I felt so strongly about just weeks ago.  I came a click away from removing this blog because I'm not questioning whether what I have wrote is really inspired by God, as I once thought.

I needed to find some sort of motivation to keep it up, and for now this verse has done it.  And strangely as I must admit, as I blew through this verse without much through the first time I read Exodus.  But the story is powerful.  If God could turn a man with no confidence into the ruler of a nation with a mere staff, then he can and probably has already put things in my life for my to fulfill my duties, fulfill my dreams, fulfill my destiny.

Are these writings my "staff."  Probably not, but maybe?  Regardless, I am thankful that I even have the opportunity to post a blog, to have a computer to do so, to have internet, to be able to post something that people from around the world can read.  Maybe this reaches someone.  Maybe it never will.  But this verse gave me the motivation to keep it up for a little while, just in case this is one of the "staffs" in my life.

Moses questioned God's plan repetitively, but God stuck with Moses and always gave him what he needed to be successful.  This gives me the glimmer of hope I have been looking for.  There's numerous quotes throughout the Bible reminding us that God will provide for us.  For some reason, it is easy to forget this when we're not in our best of moods.  But its true, and when we really stop and reflect on it, we will find that God has always provided for us.

Final Thought:
What has God put in your hands today?  How do you plan to use it?  Will how you use it please God?

Find your staff.  God provides us with what we need, but it is up to us to recognize and use this for His glory.