Moses made several excuses to God:

“But who am I to appear before Pharaoh?” Exodus 3:11

“How do you expect me to lead the Israelites out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11

“They won’t believe me.” Exodus 3:13, 4:1

“O Lord . . . I’m clumsy with my words.” Exodus 4:10

“Lord, please! Send someone else.” Exodus 4:13

Any of these sound familiar? It is hard to believe that with this beginning, God turned Moses into one of His greatest leaders. It just goes to show that serving God does not depend on great things from us; it depends on our availability to a great God. It depends on our faithfulness.

This has been God’s strategy from the beginning – to pick ordinary, fallible people like you and me, and do great things through them by faith. Greatness, in God’s book, is not a measure of our natural abilities as much as it is a measure of our faithfulness.

God will use what we offer of our natural abilities but only after we give them over to Him. That is what the shepherd’s staff Moses carried around represented. God asked Moses to throw it on the ground and when he did, it immediately turned into a serpent. Then He told him to pick it up again (that would have been the hardest part!), and it turned back into a staff. Later, God would use this mighty miracle against Pharaoh and his magicians. God works miracles when we give Him the talents of our lives.

When we give up what we have in our hand, then God can turn even these things into something greater. When we turn from reliance on our natural abilities to reliance on God, He makes even more of our abilities.

What’s your staff? Throw it down, and see what God can make of it.