A Shepherd’s Staff

Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied. – Exodus 4:2 A shepherd’s staff isn’t the most intimidating weapon in the arsenal of a warrior. In fact, it’s probably just a feeble piece of wood that fell off from tree when the wind blew against it. In a sense, since it broke, it was probably the weakest link in the tree. A shepherd’s staff is a glorified walking stick. There is no doubt about it: a shepherd’s staff is not a weapon of mass destruction. It is not something you wave at an enemy to show them your power. I was thinking about the gravity of Moses’ job. He had run away from Egypt because he got caught murdering a man and now he was being sent back to a people who wouldn’t call him their own and against a nation that raised him as one of their own. He should be filled with doubts– all he had was a walking stick that he picked up in the wilderness and headed to a place where he didn’t belong. Sometimes all we have in our possession is nothing more than a walking stick and unfortunately we are called out to confront an enemy and lead a people with nothing more than just that. So we complain asking God “if only…” and it seems that we know our harmartia to be the walking stick and the all-knowing, all-powerful God of the universe seems to be set on our taking a feeble branch to display His power to the world at large in our lives. We all have shepherd sticks– they are our limited talents, giftings, abilities and intellect. Our shepherd sticks do nothing more than brace us for life’s struggles by helping us rationalize, understand and deal with the deadly forces that blow across our faces and most of the time, you and I both know that life hits us harder, faster and stranger than any of our staffs can help us bear. Therefore imagine with me then, your divine calling in life with nothing more than a feeble attempt to craft a tool to brace yourself against the forces of nature. Would you be able to confidently challenge the world with a piece of broken branch? Actually, it doesn’t matter whether we think we can. We can make excuses all day long and say if, “if only I had…then I would be able to…” but God doesn’t seem to care about those excuses. I mean, He sent His son into this world with nothing more than a birthday suit and God used Jesus to alter the fate of humanity. I know you and I aren’t Jesus, but we have to be aware of the fact that God can really do all things regardless of who we are and what we have and where we are. I mean Jesus really turned the world on its head when he knowingly gave himself to be sin for us all, and suffered beyond recognition, like one who is guilty, at the hands of the largest empire in the world. This was an act of God. This was subversive. This was God bringing the world to its knees with nothing more than a walking stick, or at least a stick to drag to your demise. Knowing all of this, we still have doubts and fears, and ask God to “send anybody else.” But He still sends you, and all you see is your insignificant shepherd’s staff in your hands and nothing else. The shepherd’s stick was for your comfort, not for God’s purposes. It is like our pacifier to coddle as we watch amazing unfold in our lives. Because look at what happens, “Then the Lord asked Moses, ‘Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.'” (Exodus 4: 11-12) I ask you and I challenge us, why are we still complaining? Why are we so worried? What is wrong with us? We were given a shepherd’s staff and told to go: why aren’t we moving?