After Moses received his orders from God to lead Israel out of bondage, his faith was quickly tested. So that the soon-to-be leader could prove to those he would guide that he was sent by God, he was asked to perform a very strange miracle.
Moses was asked to take his ordinary walking staff and cast it to the ground. When he did, the wooden stick turned into a dangerous, slithering serpent. His flesh and common sense took control, and he fled. Fear drove the man far from what appeared to him to be danger.
“And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.” Exodus 4:3
Fear was not what God wanted Moses to demonstrate to the people he was to lead. God wanted Israel to get the clear message that God was with the humble man, and that through his leadership, “impossible” things would be possible.
Moses’ next step of faith was far above common reasoning. He was commanded to grab the hissing, frightening snake by the tail.
“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
“What? What a dumb thing to do!” surely had to go through Moses’ skeptical mind. However, he did what he was commanded to do. This is when his life surely changed. Beyond all common sense, he grabbed the reptile by the tail, and it supernaturally returned back to what it was, an old stick that he may have picked up off the wilderness ground.
That first step of faith was far beyond anything he would normally do, but doing it altered the way he would see challenges and “impossibilities” for the rest of his life. It was an important step of obedience.
Today, one’s first step of real faith may be far from what normally makes sense and is just as frightening as Moses’ action was, but it too may be life-altering. It is one’s trust in an unseen God that will soon make Him a reality in one’s life and will start a life of obedience to God’s commandments.
Obedience to what is commanded is essential. Heeding what the Holy Spirit whispers to one’s heart is the beginning of a God-led life. Be it obedience to trust Christ as Saviour, to be baptized, to start tithing, to witness to others, to faithfully read one’s Bible, to pray, or to cease a particular sin is paramount to one’s spiritual growth. It may seem like grabbing a serpent by the tail, but one’s faith will never grow unless one makes steps of faith.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
“You don’t have to see all the stairs. Just see and take the first step!”
