Exodus chapter 7
Moses and his miraculous staff.
When the primary mode of transportation was walking, I can imagine people making good use of walking sticks. I enjoy hiking, and I used to have this walking stick that I made myself from a tree branch. After selecting a stick that was just the right length, I used a pocket knife to remove the bark, and carve my initials in the side. It was my staff. It was uniquely mine. I can imagine a similar kind of particularity that would be given to each person's walking stick back in Moses' time. Moses' staff would have been a unique kind of extension of his identity.
When God blesses Moses' staff with various miraculous traits, his staff took on an additional unique identity. It was the identity of God. When Moses would raise his staff or throw it down God's miracles would happen. Moses' identity was intertwined with God's when he used his staff. People learned to recognize the work of God when ever Moses would use his staff.
Today, people don't use walking sticks as much, but neither does God. :-) Today, God has given us different kinds of gifts that help us to intertwine our identity with God's. For instance, Moses didn't have the bible. We do. Bibles are very personalized. Like a walking stick, the more they are used the more they take on the unique particularity of their owners. Consider how your bible communicates your identity. Consider as well how people recognize the work of God when you use it.
There are other staff-like gifts that God has given us as well. There are ways in which each of us are very uniquely equipped with qualities and characteristics that are particular to our identity. When we use them for God's purposes, people begin to recognize the work of God when we do.
How are you uniquely talented?
How do you use this for God's purposes?
Jesus was raised with a unique talent that was part of his identity. He was a carpenter. Interesting, isn't it, that his crowning moment of glory came when he was hung on a cross--the handy work of some unknown carpenter. Like Moses, when he raised his (wooden) staff people recognized the work of God in him, Jesus was raised up on a wooden cross (staff) and people still recognize the work of God in Jesus.
Lord God, thank you for the ways you have uniquely created me. Thank you for the gift of the bible. Motivate me to make use of these special gifts for your purposes that my identity might become more closely intertwined with yours. In Jesus' name. Amen
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