What Is In Your Hand?

‘Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…’—Ephesians 3:20, NKJV 

It is not just in moments of discouragement that we can ask ourselves the tough questions. ‘What difference do I make? What difference does my praying, my serving, my giving make? In the face of the world’s massive and unending need, why is it that what I am, what I do, what I give seems so small, so meagre?’ 

Thankfully, our God is not daunted by such questioning. In fact, he seems to ignore the ‘difference’ question altogether and poses another one to us: ‘What is that in your hand?’ 

This is the question put to Moses out the back of beyond near Horeb mountain. At that time Moses was tending his father-in-law’s sheep. Confronted with a bush that burned yet was not consumed, he heard a Voice asking him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ (Exodus 4:2). 

Moses replied matter-of-factly. ‘It’s my staff, my shepherd’s crook.’ ‘Throw it down,’ the Voice said, and it became a serpent. ‘Pick it up,’ and it turned back to a staff. ‘Now go,’ said the Voice. ‘I will be with you. Together we will bring deliverance to your people.’ In the hands of God, Moses’ staff, his ordinary tool of trade was to become proof of his calling and the symbol of his empowering. 

That life-changing encounter before the burning bush changed Moses from shepherd to servant leader. He went as commanded, met his brother Aaron on cue and together they challenged Pharaoh to set God’s people free from slavery. 

Our calling may not be so dramatic, but the same question stands starkly before us at a time such as this. ‘What is that in your hand? What are you holding? What resources are stored up within you?’ We may feel that we have nothing much at all, just a meagre snack in the face of a huge hunger, but still God waits for our answer. 

The miracle is that when we give of our substance, we discover, as Moses and countless others have discovered, that God can do so much more than we could ever imagine or dare to ask. Like the widow in the temple who gave her smallest coins as an offering (Luke 21:1–4), or the lad who handed over his lunch (John 6:9), we too may discover that in the hands of Jesus, what seems not much at all becomes a blessing to thousands. Can we trust our God who does immeasurably more (Ephesians 3:20) to do that again in these days of our Self-Denial Appeal? Can we give our offering and trust God to use that to reveal hope to more people than we can imagine?  

I gave my lunch to Jesus
and let him do the rest,
He took the humble bread I had,
gave thanks and broke and blessed.
It fed a mighty multitude
my lunch that was so small
in Jesus’ hands it was enough
to satisfy them all. 
Barbara Sampson

Paul wrote to the believers at Rome, ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit’ (Romans 15:13). This verse is a promise for our Self-Denial offering and a reminder of the hope to which we have been called. 

Our sacrificial giving plus God’s multiplication will feed a mighty multitude.