When God asks Moses to tell the Israelites and the Pharaoh His plan for their freedom, Moses voices the doubts many of us have when it comes to talking about God, “They won’t trust me. They won’t listen to a word I say. They’re going to say, ‘God? Appear to him? Hardly!’”
So God said, “What’s that in your hand?”
“A staff.”
“Throw it on the ground.” [Exodus 4, msg]
Have you ever felt daunted at the prospect of explaining to your friends who God is and why you believe in Him? Or overwhelmed at the thought of the massive number of people around you at uni who don’t know Him? Worried people may not believe you or may not listen to you when you say you know God and have spoken to Him?
Then this question is for you. What have you got in your hand?
It is so simple. All He asks us to do is to give Him what we’ve already got.
Coming back to uni after my year abroad last year, I started with that daunted feeling. All of the friends I’d lived with and done uni with before had left. I had no remaining commitments or attachments to the societies I’d been in. I was starting from scratch. I knew I was surrounded by people who didn’t know God, people He wanted to talk to and to know, and I knew I wanted to make the most of the opportunity to show people His love and tell them about Him, but I didn’t know where to start! So I started with this question.
What have you got in your hand?
I realised that I felt at home in York. So I worked out ways of giving that away – throwing it down. I wanted to welcome people to York and make them feel at home. For me this looked like hosting freshers lunches, plus-one dinner parties, looking for the lonely people on my course and in my swimming club, building friendships with those who needed it most.
It was amazing to see God work through each of those simple things. I threw down what I had in my hand – although it didn’t look like much - and God performed miracles!
But what does this look like for you this year? What have you got in your hand?
Do you feel at home where you are? Do you have a position if influence in a society? Do you have some spare time or money or a space to invite people into? Do you have language skills, cooking skills, sports skills, music skills, skills on the dancefloor? Can you muster some encouraging words? Because God can use it all. All you need to do is throw it down - give it back to him, and you never know what miracles you may see.
