Exodus 4:2-4

Ex 4:2-4 (NLT) The Lord asked Moses, "What is that in your hand?" "A shepherd's staff," Moses replied. "Throw it down on the ground," the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back. Then the Lord told him, "Reach out and grab its tail." So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd's staff in his hand.”

Moses’ staff was nothing but a common shepherd’s rod. Staffs as well as other personal belongings were used by people back then as items that identified them. In a similar way, today we can be identified by our car, or our house or clothes that other people recognize as ours. It is a funny thing how we become attached to our little things. A cook may have a favorite cutting knife, a physician may have a special stethoscope, a carpenter has a favorite hammer, a mechanic has a special tool box, and maybe you have a special possession like a laptop or a Bible. This story illustrates that whatever possession that we hold dearly in our hand, we have the opportunity to throw it down and give it to God. After Moses threw his rod on the ground – the rod of Moses became the rod of God. With the rod of God back in Moses’ hand Moses preformed supernatural signs and miracles. With the rod of God Moses called down plagues in Egypt, he divided the Red Sea, he struck the rock and water flowed out.

As Christians we are told to “seek first the Kingdom of God.” If we are doing this, then one of our most prized possessions should be the Kingdom of God, a possession we should be most notably identified with. Jesus told his disciples to “go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” Matt 10:6-8 (KJV)

When you are seeking the Kingdom does your relationship with God flow both ways, in as well as out? Too many times we only allow the Kingdom to flow into us and not necessarily out to others. If this is your experience then, throw it down. Give it back to God, who gave it to you, and throw it down! When you give it back to God, the dry dead wood of our spiritual life will become like a living hissing snake, a living hissing relationship with God is a dangerous thing to the world around us. But we can do as Moses did and grab it by the tail and share it with those around us to show them that our relationship with God is real.

Share some things in your life you could throw down and give to God? How do you think God could use them through you once He gives it back to you?

II Chronicles 15:2

2 Chron 15:2 (NIV) “The Lord (Yahweh) is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.”

God is with us. At Jesus’ birth the Angles of God announced in Matt 1:23 “and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” If you would look at all the major religions of the world you would find that Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius and Moses all identified themselves as teachers or prophets. None of them were God. Jesus is unique, He is the only leader of a world religion the Christian church, born as a man but has existed before the beginning of time as God. “So you see, God is with us. He is our leader.” 2 Chron 13:12 (NLT.) Jesus is God and He eagerly wants, no craves a relationship with us, we are told that when you “come near to God, He will come near to you.” James 4:8. We have this promise, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jer 29:13-14 (NIV.) Jesus Himself has said in Matt 7:7-8 “Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” No other god of any other religion has such an intense desire for a loving, personal relationship with us.

What other god loved mankind so intensely, that it would become a man so it could die to restore a right relationship between us and him. Only Jesus, “greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 (NIV.) Paul explained, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ Rom 5:6-8 (NIV.)

Jesus said of himself, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:14-15 (NIV.) “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:27-29 (NIV.)

What are some of the ways you are seeking God? Describe some actions that you think may be a way of forsaking God?