Saturday, October 17, 2009

The Staff of Moses


If you read Exodus 3-4, you will find that this is where God instructs Moses to use his staff when he goes back to Egypt. The shepherd's staff is a very unique and useful tool. The staff is used to guide the sheep back into the fold. He will also use his staff to guide a baby back to its mother. The staff is used to rescue sheep from precarious situations and to guide them closer to the shepherd for closer examination.

The question that is asked in my study is, what is your staff? What tool do you have that God could use for His glory within the Body? Some things that come to mind are: teaching, mentoring, singing, playing an instrument, having a special rapport with children/teens, etc. I don't have any of these qualities. I am only good with my own children. I can't sing or play anything. My life is so checkered that I am not sure I would even know how to mentor a young girl. But... I can organize things. I can embellish an idea and sometimes I can help with writing letters and such. So maybe I do have a staff of sorts.

I was also totally blown away when I read that God met Moses at an inn on his way to Egypt with the intention of killing him. This is Moses for crying out loud. I had to read it twice and read 2 commentaries to make sure I was reading it right. Why would God want to kill Moses? He has not even made it to Egypt yet. Funny you should ask. Moses took his wife Zipporah and his sons with him. If you will think back, Moses' mother was his wet nurse. The Bible does not say, but I think that she told him of the promise to God to Abraham. Moses seemed to know from whence he came. So he should have known that when his sons were 8 days old they were to be circumcised. He had not done so with his own son. Moses was braking the covenant with God! Zipporah does the deed. I will not go into details but you can read it for yourself in Exodus 4:23-26.

In John Wesley's commentary, he seems to think at this point Moses sent the wife and kids back home. The Bible does not say so we cannot be sure. But Wesley does make a very valid point. When we are called by God to perform a specific service, we should remove anything that would be a hindrance to us.

Matthew Henry states that when God brings our shortcomings to mind, we should amend it as soon as possible. Confess and repent in other words.

Instead of dwelling on all my many missed opportunities, I am trying to focus on what "staff" I have that God will use to further the kingdom. I am trying to "clear my account" with God so that we can start anew and I can be the woman that He uses and not the woman that looks for someone to take her place.

2 Comments:

  1. Bruce Coltin said...
    It seems to me that you ARE the staff. The obligation you've willingly taken on and how you conduct it says more to others than any single skill or attribute possibly can.
    betty said...
    I think, if I'm reading this correctly, staff would also be equated to spiritual gifts. I have heard/read/studied that whatever you have a passion for is usually your gift or whatever you are good at, like you mentioned organizing. You'll be surprised when you start thinking about it and praying about it how many gifts you might actually have. There is also the SHAPE gift assessment test that I believe Saddleback (Rick Warren) put together to help people find out their spiritual gifts. Google SHAPE and I'm sure you'll find something.

    betty

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