“The God
Of Their Ancestors”
Then Moses answered, “But suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say,
‘The LORD did not appear to you.’” The LORD said to him, “What is that in your
hand?” He said, “A staff.” And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw
the staff on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses drew back from it.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand, and seize it by the tail” –
so he reached out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand –
“so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
Zookeepers who must handle snakes will
tell you that you should never grab a snake by its tail. It can coil around in
a split second and sink its fangs into your hand. The right way is to control
it by its head. God was trying to teach Moses a lesson. God wanted him to
realize His power and be willing to be used by Him as His messenger. Basically,
there was little difference between throwing the rod to the ground and taking
the snake by its tail. Both were acts of obedience to the LORD. The lesson was
that God was able to use whatever He wanted in order
to validate His message to the people through Moses.
What is in our own hands? In a sense,
our lives are in our hands. We choose whether we will squander the hours, days,
weeks, months and years in our own pursuits or if we will live an obedient life
that is useful to Almighty God.
We will be surprised at what the Lord
will accomplish in us and through us as we obediently do what He asks.
God’s call to
a task
includes His strength
to complete it.
Our Daily
Bread –