What's In Your Hands?

Tuesday February 3, 2026 

What’s in Your Hands?  A Message About Calling and Obedience, and Renewal 

Then the Lord said to [Moses], “What is that in your hand?”  Exodus 4:2, NIV 

During a recent Bible study about our callings, one question anchored the conversation: “What’s in your hands?” 

It is the question God asked Moses in Exodus 4:2. Moses stood at the edge of his calling, wrestling with insecurity, fear, and self-doubt. He tried to beg off the assignment five times. Moses wanted reassurance he would succeed. He wanted more clarity. He wanted to feel ready and able. 

Instead of answers or specific directions, God asked Moses to look at what he already carried. Moses replied, “A staff.” 

It looked like the ordinary, typical wood staff of a shepherd. He toted it so often, like the cellphones that we slip into our hip pockets or purses, that he could easily overlook it. Yet, that staff became the very instrument God used to demonstrate His power. This was the same staff that transformed into a snake and ate the staff/snakes of the magicians in Pharaoh’s court, the same one that Moses raised to part the Red Sea, and the staff he lifted above his head to empower the Israelites to defeat the Amalekites in battle. 

For many of us, the tension is not that we lack calling or gifting. The tension is that we keep overlooking or minimizing what God already placed in our hands. And we keep forgetting that God is the source of power behind everything. We don’t need a bigger platform, more skill or training, more experience, or a different version of ourselves to move forward. 

Sometimes digging a deeper or broader well of faith is not about gaining something new first. It’s about remembering God’s faithfulness. It’s about trusting His promise always to walk beside us and provide a way through the challenges and difficulties that often accompany a calling. 

Up to the point of God’s invitation to join Him in some endeavor, the Lord already placed in our hands the means we need to step forward and go. And He will fill any gaps in talents, resources, or experiences if and when we need them. 

God does not ask us to go get what we think we’ll need for the task at hand. He only asks us to steward what is already in our hands. Small does not mean insignificant. Ordinary does not mean unusable. 

Reflect: How does the story of Moses’ staff transform your thinking about yourself and whatever small or big assignment God calls you to? 

Pray: Almighty God, my Provider and Sustainer, enable me to remain alert to Your presence and obedient to step forward wherever and whenever You call. Align me with Your purposes for my life. And whenever I doubt or hesitate, embolden me with Your faithfulness. Help me remember You have been and are always with me. You have been and are always enough. Amen. 

By His Grace,  Gloria Ashby  Lay Leader