These words were spoken by God to Moses when He called him to go down to Egypt and bring the children of Israel out of bondage. You remember how Moses tried to excuse himself. He said he wasn’t didn’t speak well — he wasn’t this and that — and he couldn’t go. Like Isaiah, he wanted the Lord to send someone else. Finally, the Lord said to Moses, “What is that in your hand?” He had a staff in his hand. It was just a stick that he had cut for the purpose of driving the sheep with. He could probably have gotten a better or straighter stick for a staff. Yet with that staff, he was to deliver the children of Israel. God linked His almighty power with the staff, and that was enough.
I can imagine that as Moses was on his way to Egypt, he may have met someone who might have asked him where he was going. “Down to Egypt.”
Really? Are you going down there again to live?”
“No, I’m going to bring my people out of bondage.”
“What! You’re going to deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh, the mightiest monarch now living? You think you are going to free three million slaves from the power of the Egyptians?”
“Yes.”
“How are you going to do it?”
“With this staff.”
The Idea of delivering three million slaves with a rod! We had three million slaves in this country, and before they could be set free, half a million men had to lay down their lives. The choicest of the nation marched to their graves before our slaves gained their deliverance.
Here was a weak and solitary man going down to Egypt to meet a monarch who had the power of life and death. All he had to deliver the people from bondage was this rod, but we see how famous that rod became. When Moses needed to bring up the plagues on Egypt, he just had to stretch out his rod, and they covered the land. He only had to stretch it out, and the water of the Nile turned into blood. Then, when the people came to the Red Sea and they wanted to go across, he only had to lift up the rod, and the waters separated, so the people could pass through on dry land. When they were in the desert and needed water to drink, he again lifted the rod and struck the flinty rock, causing water to burst forth, and they drank and were refreshed. That contemptible rod became mighty to be sure. But it wasn’t the rod — it was God through Moses, who humbled Himself to use it.
Let us learn a lesson from this history. We are required to use what we have — not what we don’t have. Whatever gifts or talents you have, take and lay them at the Master’s feet. Moses took what he had; and we see how much he accomplished. If we see how much he accomplished. If we are ready to say, “Here I am, ready and willing to be used,” then the Lord will use us. He will link His mighty power with our weakness, and we will be able to do great things for Him.
If you want to do great things for God, then be willing to do the small things. Remember that nothing is small when God is in it.
You cannot have Christ if you will not serve Him. If you take Christ, you must take Him in all His qualities. You must not simply take Him as a Friend, but you must also take Him as your Master. If you are to become His disciple, you must also become His servant.
If we are to do the Lord’s work successfully, we must have faith in Him. We must look beyond ourselves, beyond our mission, beyond our personal qualifications, and beyond our former successes. We must look for a current anointing by the Holy Spirit, and by faith we must depend upon the living God from day to day.
We all would like to do great things for Christ, but first, we must be willing to do the small things. Many of us will never accomplish what we would consider great in our own eyes, but God does not look at things like we do. He can take the small things and make them great. If you really want to serve the Lord, then you need to be willing to do that simple little thing that you are able to do that will bring you no special honor, but which the Lord desires for you to do.
If you want to be used by God in ministry, be faithful where you are. Faithfulness in little things leads to faithfulness in much.
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21).
Our work on earth is not of equal importance. We certainly can not all be a ‘Billy Graham,’ and affect the kingdom of God as he has, but God accepts the service of the less-gifted as being just as pure, and with equal pleasure. As long as our goal is to exalt the name of Christ, we need never think of our service as being any less important than a minister or anyone else. It is not what a person does, but why they do it. The motive is everything. Nobody remembers the farmer who picked up Billy Graham as a young lad and took him to a tent revival meeting, where he became a Christian. but look what that simple, obedient act had on the world.
Some of us worry so much about determining what great plans God has for us that we end up doing nothing. Following Jesus doesn’t mean aiming at great things, but by just doing the work He puts before us. Doing God’s will is very simple, just do what He sits in front of you. If He doesn’t want you to do something, He won’t put it before you.
Serving God is not getting some superficial idea in your own mind and carrying it out according to your own notions and thoughts that constitutes service for Christ. It is simply this, if anyone will serve Christ, let him follow Christ. Let him follow in Christ’s footsteps, live by His principles, be motivated by His life, live for His purposes, and copy His actions. This will be the noblest way in which to serve the Lord.
“If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be” (John 12:26).
It is always helpful to us to fix our attention on the God-ward aspect of Christian work — to realize that the work of God does not mean so much man’s work for God as God’s own work through man.
It is our human nature to seek honor for ourselves even in our Christian service. When we seek honor for ourselves, we may gain honor from this world; but it is a poor substitute for the honor we receive from God when we deny our “self” and seek only to honor and exalt our Lord.
“My Father will honor the one who serves me” (John 12:26).
“I will honor those who honor me” (Samuel 2:30).
Books by Jerry, many of which you may read for free on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jerry-Blount/author/B06XK4GJT1
- Things You Probably Didn’t Learn in Church
- Basic Christianity: Living a Joy-Filled Life and Making a Difference
- The End Times: Signs and Prophecy
- Noah and the Great Flood: Proof and Effects
- Following Jesus and Fishing Along the Way: Stories of God’s Great Outdoors
- The Rapture: Coming Soon
- Delighting in the Lord: Enjoying a Close Walk with Jesus
Sharing Jesus 