Key scripture – “So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.” (Exodus 4:20).

When Moses was called by God from his forty years in the desert to lead the people out of Egypt, God first changed how Moses felt about his shepherd’s staff which represented his work life as a shepherd. God told him He was going to perform miracles through his staff. “And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.” (Exodus 4:17 ESV).

A shepherd was considered a very lowly profession by the Egyptians. Before Moses fled to the desert, after he killed an Egyptian, he had been raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, with unlimited wealth and everything at his beckon call. So for the forty years that he was in the desert he was separated from all that he had and all that he had learned in Egypt.

Many times, the way God calls us into His purpose in our work life is through a hardship of some kind. God will often “break” our staff, or our vocation, in order to reshape and re-commission us. The purpose of the breaking is not to destroy us, but to bring us to a place of willingness to lay down our vocations so that God can use them for His purposes. The breaking prepares of our heart for the new calling.

God required Moses to lay down his staff in order for him to see it as something that had power. He had not viewed his work life as a shepherd as having any power. God was instructing Moses to lay down that which represented his life and calling, so that He could transform it and raise it up for His purposes. “Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.'” The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the LORD said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”-so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand- “that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” (Exodus 4:1-5 ESV).

Once Moses laid his staff down and then took it back up, a significant change took place. It was no longer his shepherd’s staff; it was the “staff of God.” God’s staff has power. After Moses’ staff became God’s, it was used as the instrument of deliverance and transformation for the people of God. It delivered people out of the slavery of Egypt through one of the most dramatic miracles of all time — the parting of the Red Sea. “Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.” (Exodus 14:16 ESV).

Moses’ staff transformed a people from slavery to freedom and was used to demonstrate his God-given authority. How about you? Are you willing for God to use your “staff” to bring a people out of bondage?

Pray this – Our Precious Heavenly Father, I want to be used by you in my work place to bring people out of bondage. I care about the lost and I want to introduce them to my Savior, Jesus Christ. Father, give me the wisdom I need to use my job, which is my “staff”, to reach others. I need the Holy Spirit to guide me, lead me, strengthen me, and show me what Your plans are for getting this done. I want You to make me a fisher of men. (Matthew 4:19). I want to be a disciple and make disciples for Jesus. Keep your hand of favor and blessing on me as I lay down my staff before Your throne so that You can fulfill Your purpose in my work place. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.