When God called Moses from the burning bush in Exodus 3, the task was massive: deliver Israel from the most powerful nation on earth. Moses, like most of us would, protested. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). God responded not with a resume but with His name: “I AM WHO I AM.” Still, Moses wrestled with feelings of inadequacy.
By Exodus 4, God asked Moses a simple, profound question: “What is that in your hand?”
Moses replied, “A staff.”
A shepherd’s staff. Common. Familiar. Functional. Nothing extraordinary. Yet God would use that ordinary object to display extraordinary power—turning it into a serpent, parting the Red Sea, and demonstrating divine authority before kings. Not because the staff was powerful, but because the God who empowered it was.
This question—“What’s in your hand?”—echoes through time. It calls us to reflect on what God has already given us, often long before He calls us to take the next step.
The Mistake of Waiting for “Something More”
So many of us delay obedience because we believe we don’t have what it takes. We wait for better timing, clearer direction, greater gifting, or more resources. We disqualify ourselves before God ever says we’re disqualified. But the truth is: God rarely starts with what we don’t have. He starts with what we do.
We think impact requires influence. We assume usefulness requires a platform. But God delights in working through what seems ordinary. He fed thousands with a boy’s lunch. He healed with mud and spit. He restored with a touch of the hem of His garment.
What’s in your hand?
Maybe it’s not a staff.
Maybe it’s a pen. A kitchen. A trade. A job. A skill. A platform. A heart of compassion. A phone call you can make. A meal you can share. A prayer you can pray.
You don’t need more to begin. You need to offer what you already have.
God Uses What We Surrender
When Moses stretched out his staff, it wasn’t just an act of power—it was an act of surrender. The staff represented Moses’ identity and livelihood. He had carried it for decades as a shepherd. In asking him to lay it down, God was inviting Moses to trust Him with what he knew best.
In Exodus 4:3, God tells Moses to throw it on the ground. It becomes a serpent. Then God tells him to pick it up by the tail—a dangerous and irrational move by human standards. Moses obeys, and it becomes a staff again. What changed? The same object, but now surrendered. Now marked by obedience. Now used for God’s glory.
What if the difference between something ordinary and something sacred is not the object itself, but whether or not it has been surrendered to God?
Your hands may feel empty. Or what you carry may seem insignificant. But God never asks you to give what you don’t have. He asks you to give what you do—and trust Him to multiply it.
What’s Not in Your Hand
The enemy would love to keep you focused on what’s not in your hand. That job you didn’t get. The opportunity you missed. The platform you don’t have. The skills others seem to possess.
But comparison is a thief. It robs you of clarity and cripples obedience. God didn’t ask Moses what was in Aaron’s hand. He didn’t ask what was in Pharaoh’s. He asked what was in his.
Your calling isn’t based on someone else’s capacity. It’s based on your obedience to what God placed in your hand.
Jesus tells the parable of the talents in Matthew 25—one man received five talents, another two, another one. The master didn’t expect the same return from each; he expected faithfulness according to what they had received. The servant who buried his single talent out of fear was rebuked not for having less, but for doing nothing with what he had.
Don’t bury your gift because you believe it’s small. Multiply it in faith.
Small Acts, Eternal Weight
Scripture is filled with examples of people who gave God what was in their hand, even when it didn’t seem like enough.
- The widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17 made a final meal from her last handful of flour and oil—and God sustained her through the famine.
- The Shunammite woman built a small room for Elisha—and became the recipient of a miraculous birth and resurrection.
- The boy with the five loaves and two fish gave his lunch—and Jesus fed five thousand.
These weren’t powerful people. They weren’t famous. But they were faithful. They gave what they had.
What’s in your hand today? Time? A willingness to serve? A network? A burden for the hurting? A home you can open to others? Whatever it is, God can use it.
God Can Fill Empty Hands
You may feel you’re in a season where there’s nothing left in your hand. Loss, burnout, disappointment, or failure has left you feeling spiritually empty.
Even then, God is not limited by your capacity. He is the One who fills. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
God doesn’t need strength in your hand. He needs surrender in your heart. And often, when our hands are empty, we are finally ready to receive what only He can place there.
Faithfulness Over Fame
God may not call you to lead a nation like Moses. But He will call you to lead someone. Your children. Your church. Your friends. Your community.
What you hold may seem small—but in God’s hands, it can part seas, open hearts, and change lives. The significance of your work isn’t measured by its visibility. It’s measured by your obedience to the call of God.
Whatever is in your hand, offer it. Let Him use it. Let Him multiply it. Your surrendered gifts, however ordinary, can become the instruments of extraordinary grace.
Final Word
God is not asking you to be someone else. He’s not waiting for you to become more impressive, more skilled, or more prepared. He’s asking:
What’s in your hand?
Offer it in faith. Let Him sanctify it. And watch Him do more through your surrender than you could ever accomplish in your own strength.
You already have what you need to begin.
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