Exodus 4:2-5 And the LORD said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod.… I believe the rod cast down, and taken up again, typifies the entire consecration of the Christian's life to God. The rod was the ordinary sign and instrument of Moses' daily occupation. That cast down, and taken up, became filled with power; and by it he proved to Israel and to Pharaoh that he had seen Jehovah. We are commanded in 1 Corinthians 7:24 to abide in the calling "wherein we are called." I suppose we may understand from this that we do not need to change our station and calling (supposing it to be an honest one) in order to serve God. Are we shepherds, carpenters, merchants, lawyers, doctors, teachers, servants, or what not, we may serve God in that calling quite as efficiently as in any other. So He can, and will, make you mighty in the use of your calling, be it what it may, high or low, learned or mechanical, the calling of a master or a servant, a mistress or a maid. Only cast it down at the feet of Jesus, in humble and holy consecration; and then take it up again to use it and pursue it for Him. What God needs to-day in this world is a host of men and women, in every walk of life, who are living for God, and serving Him in their calling, using it as a means of illustrating God's righteousness. He wants some merchants to do business for Him, that the world may know what God's thought of righteousness in trade is. The banker may serve God in the same way. The medical man has a calling in which he may leave the testimony of God's tenderness in the sick room; and by his ministry of healing exercised on the body he has an opportunity, such as is afforded to no other man in the world, to point his patients to the great Physician and Healer of souls. As it is, alas that so many Christian physicians fail to cast down their rods at the feet of Christ! The lawyer at the bar, and the judge on the bench, may be God's witnesses in their profession. The teacher with the children (a most difficult position) may also cast his or her rod down. The governess, the nurse, and the mother may be consecrated to God for those to whom God has sent them, or whom He has given them. The servant in the house — both the maid-servant and the man-servant — every one, in his or her place, may throw down the rod of their calling at the feet of Jesus, and take it up again in power. (G. F. Pentecost, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.WEB: Yahweh said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod." |
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