“And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:” (Ex 4:4 AV)
I had a thought here. When the snake appeared, Moses jumped back. Either he was unnaturally afraid of snakes, or this snake was of the variety that could do harm. Then I wondered if Moses ever put that rod back down. He had to at some point, right? Did he sleep with it? Did he do everything one handed? From the time he took up that cobra until the day he died, did he put down the rod? If that rod was the same he carried into Egypt, we know he put it down at least one more time. When his rod devoured the rods of the Egyptian magicians, Moses threw us rod on the ground. Then he had to take it back up again. Again, I wonder how long it was before Moses trusted the LORD enough to put that rod back down and pick it up again. I wonder if the first time he put it down after picking it up if it turned back into a snake. That had to be interesting. Mind you, I cannot prove the rod Moses had at the challenge of the priests of Egypt was the same rod Moses used when he parted the Red Sea. It would figure they would be one and the same. However, I cannot prove it. If it was, then there is a profound principle to observe here.
Faith is grown brick by brick. It does not come all at once. Trust is something built one step at a time. We are in the winter. That means there are very weird people who are risking their lived to walk out on ice and fish in the middle of freezing temperatures. The first day out on the ice pretty much does the same way. The fisherman will pile all his equipment on a sled and trail it behind him be a considerable distance. If he breaks through, he has an anchor to put him out. He creeps along the ice, watching for cracks, listening intently to the ice’s reaction to his weight, and watching the ice to see if he can tell how thick it is. When he get to a specific point, he trusts in an ax to see how thick it is. He does this every so often on the way to his spot. He tests the ice. He observes if it is trustworthy. Step by step. Test by test. Then he arrives at his spot. He pulls is sled the remaining distance. He fires up the gas powered auger. Drilling down, he sees the ice is six inched thick. Thick enough to handle any weight, including an SUV. Now he is finally confident that he will be safe. However, as he knows, the ice is thinner, closer to the shore. It takes a few times of walking before he is confident that ice will stand as well. Trust in the ice is grown step by step. Not all at once.
Moses had to release his grip on that rod at some time. It may have been that very night. I imagine it took several times to release that rod before he was confident God would protect him. The first thought I had was an amusing one. I can only imagine what Moses thought the first time he realized he had to put that rod down. But then the Spirit made this thought a bit more challenging. Moses had to learn to trust the LORD with a snake before he could learn to trust the LORD with a nation. It is not easy. Believe you me! Learning to trust the LORD is not for the faint of heart. God puts events in our lives to build our trust in Him. By incrementally harder events, we are learning that He can be trusted. It is not my first choice. As someone who hates surprises, events meant to build trust are particularly difficult for me. As someone who thrives on managing, having a situation out of my control is not preferable. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, holding onto the snake and learning to let it go is necessary. It is the only way we can learn how powerful and benevolent God truly is.
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