God commissioned Moses to deliver Israel out of slavery.
Feeling unequipped for the task the echoes of
these words had special significance to Moses.
Exiled in the desert for 40 years the rod that he carried in his hands
represented natural ability and gifting that had been developed in the
wilderness terrain.
It was now to become
the very thing that God was asking him to lay down.
As he placed it on the floor, by divine
intervention the rod transformed into a snake; attesting to the mighty power
and presence of God.
Released his grip
on that which he valued, it became a symbol of divine authority, confounding
Pharaoh and the magicians of Egypt.
It’s that same question, “What is in your hand?” that God
asks today’s musician. Be it guitar,
fiddle, drum or keyboard, he invites us to lay it down, like the staff. On its own it may well serve a practical
purpose and be a very useful tool, but when laid down in the service of the
great I AM, it too can become a weapon of liberation confounding the oppressor.
May we, like Moses, stand before the Pharaohs and magicians
of our culture with the words “Let my people free that they might worship”.
God will do more with
our natural gifts than we can ever imagine.
