• Read Exodus 4

MORNING— Here I Am… But

• Focal Passage: Exodus 4:1

“Then Moses said, ‘What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say?”

Moses stands before God at the burning bush—sandals off, heart exposed, listening to a call he once longed to receive-to help rescue his own people from bondage. And yet, instead of stepping forward, he pauses.

What follows is not rebellion so much as hesitation layered with concern. Moses does not deny God’s voice. He simply begins to ask what if.

Zig Ziglar once told a story about a man who went next door to borrow his neighbor’s lawnmower. The neighbor explained that he couldn’t lend it because all the flights from New York to Los Angeles had been canceled.

Puzzled, the borrower asked what airline cancellations had to do with borrowing a lawnmower.

The neighbor replied, “It doesn’t have anything to do with it—but if I don’t want to let you use my lawnmower, one excuse is as good as another.”

Moses’ responses begin to sound familiar. What if they don’t believe me? What if I say the wrong thing? What if I’m not the right person? What if someone else would do this better?

And if we’re honest, those questions echo in our own hearts as well.

God does not dismiss Moses for asking. But neither does He allow the excuses to stand. Instead, He patiently redirects Moses’ attention—from his inadequacy to God’s sufficiency, from his fear to God’s presence, from what Moses lacks to what God will provide.

The call of God often comes with tension—not because God is unclear, but because obedience requires trust before certainty.

• Reflection:  Which “what if” question has been quietly delaying your obedience to God?

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EVENING— What’s in Your Hand?

• Focal Passage: Exodus 4:2

“The Lord said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ And he said, ‘A staff.”

In April 1970, the crew of Apollo 13 suffered an explosion that crippled their spacecraft. Power was failing. Oxygen was running out. The mission to the moon was over—but survival was now in doubt.

One of the most serious problems was carbon dioxide buildup. The scrubbers designed to remove it were incompatible between the command module and the lunar module. The astronauts could suffocate if a solution wasn’t found quickly.

NASA engineers were given a blunt assignment: “You must solve this problem using only what the astronauts already have on board.” No new tools. No ideal equipment.

Using duct tape, plastic bags, cardboard, and a sock—items already in the spacecraft—the engineers improvised a working solution. The astronauts assembled it exactly as instructed, and the crisis passed. The crew returned safely to Earth.

NASA didn’t save Apollo 13 by giving the astronauts something new. They saved them by showing them how to use what was already in their hands.

God does not answer Moses’ doubts with a lecture.
He asks a question.

What is that in your hand?

A staff—ordinary, familiar, unimpressive. The tool of Moses’ daily work. God does not ask Moses for something new or dramatic. He asks him to surrender what he already carries.

In verse 20, Scripture quietly notes a change: “Moses also took the staff of God in his hand.” What was once his own now belonged to God. The staff did not remove fear, shorten the journey, or guarantee ease—but it became the place where obedience and God’s power met.

God often begins His work not with what we wish we had, but with what has already been placed into our hands.

• Reflection: What might God be able to do—not if you had more—but if you offered what you already have?
• Closing Prayer:  Faithful God, You know our fears, our doubts, and the excuses we carry. Teach us to trust You not with what we wish we had, but with what You have already given us. Give us courage to lay it down in obedience, believing that You are more than enough. Take what is ours and make it Yours—for Your glory.
  Amen.