Leaning on God’s Staff
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Moses holding his staff at the Battle of Rephidim in the 1871 painting Victory O Lord! by John Everett Millais
Along with many others during this time of isolation from pandemic infection, our family is spending a lot of time at home together. During this period, my wife and I have been joined by our daughter Rachel, who is staying with us right now to avoid the quarantine that has been imposed on her adult foster care home. Her presence with us provides a lot of time for conversations that often turn to how God works with His people. We were reading this morning about Moses in the book of Exodus, and Rachel pointed out the vital part his staff played in doing what God had called him to do. She went on to say that his staff and other staffs in the Bible symbolize our dependency on God, particularly in times of stress, like now. Accordingly, we concluded that a little essay on the subject was in order, a task that I now undertake while giving full credit to the contributions made by Rachel and Laquita.
When Moses objected to the Lord that the Israelites would not take his word that he had been sent by God, the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”, to which Moses answered, “A staff” (Ex. 4:1-2). To Moses, the stick he leaned on and used to help him walk on rocky ground had no special significance, and he probably wondered why God was calling attention to it. But when he obeyed God and cast it on the ground, it became a snake that was so realistic that it frightened Moses. It must have taken a great deal of faith for him to reach his hand down and take it by the tail, as God instructed him to do. This common stick had no power of its own, but when it was used as God directed, it was able to bring about miracles. Moses’ every-day staff thus became a symbol of his reliance on God. Not only would it be used to convince the people to follow him, but it would be instrumental later in parting the waters of the Red Sea and supplying water from a rock in the desert.
Just as God used Moses’ staff to implement miracles, so God uses the common things at our disposal to accomplish the work He wants us to do. As many of us “shelter in place” and live with our normal capacities curtailed, we may wonder what we can do that is meaningful and helpful. I think we can hear God asking us, “What is in your hand?” and we should respond by giving attention to common things that can be used for His glory, especially during hard times. Most of us have access to and communicate through social media, including email. Why not give special attention to received communications that indicate a need that you can help meet, even if only by a word of sympathy or encouragement. Sometimes it is significant just to let people know that you hear someone’s fear or frustration and will pray about it with him or her.
But we need to pray that God will bless the use of these humble opportunities so that they glorify him and not ourselves. So long as Moses used his staff according to God’s command, giving glory and credit to the Lord, the results were marvelous. But when he attempted to use it according to his own judgment, focusing on himself rather than on God, the results were disastrous for him personally. In Num. 20:6-13, we find Moses confronted by the people, who are complaining that they have no water. God directs Moses to take his staff to a certain rock and, in contrast to a previous incident in which he was instructed to strike the rock to bring forth water, this time God told him to “tell the rock to yield its water.” But Moses came to the rock and ranted angrily to the people, “Shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” Then he struck the rock twice with his staff, and sure enough water came forth, but God told Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” Both Moses and Aaron died before God took the Israelites into the Promised Land.
In these troubled and uncertain times, we can be both encouraged and warned by the example of Moses’ use of his staff. When we submit even our limited resources to be channels of God’s power, wonders can result. But if we seek to use what God has given us for our own glory, rather than God’s, even good results will be tarnished by our disobedience. It is good to remember the ultimate use of a common piece of wood to embody God’s power, when He transformed the cross of Christ from its original shameful and cruel purpose into a symbol of God’s deliverance from mankind’s bondage to sin and death. Because of that, we now can lean completely on the strong staff of God’s promise that He is and will be greater than any specific threat of death that we may confront.
Dr. Elton Higgs was a faculty member in the English department of the University of Michigan-Dearborn from 1965-2001. Having retired from UM-D as Prof. of English in 2001, he now lives with his wife and adult daughter in Jackson, MI.. He has published scholarly articles on Chaucer, Langland, the Pearl Poet, Shakespeare, and Milton. His self-published Collected Poems is online at Lulu.com. He also published a couple dozen short articles in religious journals. (Ed.: Dr. Higgs was the most important mentor during undergrad for the creator of this website, and his influence was inestimable; it's thrilling to welcome this dear friend onboard.)
