The Call To Pick It Up Again
April 13, 2008
Scripture:
Exodus 4:1-5 - 1 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’” 2 So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.” 3 And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), 5 “that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
Synopsis:
A person without a purpose is like a fish out of water…they waste their life flopping around until they die of suffocation. The answer to living a pointless life is consecration which by definition means to keep your hands full. A person with a God-given assignment is a consecrated person focused on keeping their hands full of their purpose. Some people never consecrate themselves long enough to discover their purpose. Some make mistakes that cause them to fumble and drop their purpose while others throw down their purpose and run away. Whatever the reason for being without purpose God is calling all believers to pick up their purpose again.
Today’s text records God’s conversation with Moses about his purpose. Moses like many of us was making excuses why he couldn’t fulfill the assignment for which he was created. God wasn’t buying his excuses and asked Moses what he asks everyone He calls, “What is that in your hand?” Moses said “a rod” which spiritually represents his God-ordained purpose. Purpose is defined as means, power, and direction. So in essence God was asking Moses what means, power, resources and direction have I placed in your hand. God then proceeded to teach an object lesson by instructing Moses to throw his “purpose” down. When Moses threw his “purpose” to the ground it became a serpent, something God did not originally intend for it to be…out of control and frightening. But then God instructed Moses to pick his purpose up again and the moment he did, it once again became means, power, and direction.
So every believer like Moses has a choice to answer God’s call and live a consecrated life fully utilizing the means, power, and direction God gives, or a desperate, desecrated life running from purpose right into the arms of destruction. My prayer is that we will all consecrate ourselves and pick up our purpose again.
