In Exodus 4:2 the question is asked, “What is that in thine hand?” The response is that it is the tool of His calling – a shepherd’s crook. Moses replies, “A rod.” God used the rod mightily. The rod became a symbol of God’s power. Moses smote the waters in Egypt with it and they turned to blood (see Exodus 7:20). He also stretched forth his rod toward heaven and God sent fire, hail, and thunder (see Exodus 9:23). On another occasion he stretched it out and an east wind arose which brought locusts that ate the fruit, trees, and herbs (see Exodus 10:15).
The same rod brought deliverance at the Red Sea (see Exodus 14:16). It brought water from the rock (see Exodus 17:5). It brought deliverance from the Amalekites (see Exodus 17:9). Because Moses allowed God to use him to be the instrument through which He would flow, God changed the meekest man in all the earth into the mightiest man. God used what Moses had to confound kings, to break the power of the tyrants, to bring judgment upon the sinner, and to bring blessing upon his people (see Exodus 10:12 and 15).
Other examples of God using small things include the following:
- Shengar, the third judge, slew 600 men with an ox goad (see Judges 3:31).
- Samson slew 1,000 men with the jawbone of an ass (see Judges 15:16).
- Rahab took some string and in faith hung it from her window and she and her household were saved.
- Dorcas used a needle to glorify God in making clothes for the poor (see Acts 9).
- A little boy had 5 small loaves of bread and two fish and he gave them to Jesus and He used them to feed 5,000 men, women, and children (see John 6:5-14).
- A little slave girl was used to cure Naaman from leprosy (see 2 Kings 5).
- In the book of Judges God used 7 things to accomplish His will:
1. An ox goad
2. A nail
3. Trumpets
4. Pitchers
5. Lamps
6. A millstone
7. The jawbone of an ass
- The men who felt like children were the men whom God used.
In 1 Kings 3:7 Solomon said, “I am but a little child.”
Jeremiah 1:6 says, “Behold I am a child, I cannot speak.”
In Exodus 4:10-12 Moses said to God, “I am not eloquent. I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.” God said, “I will be thy strength, I will teach thee what thou shalt say, I will teach thee what thou must do.”
God said unto Joshua, “Say not, I am a child. Go, speak and be not afraid.” God then touched his mouth and he went forth and rooted out, pulled down, destroyed, threw down, built and planted.
1 Corinthians 1:21 says, “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world (uneducated, unlearned) to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” His disciples were mostly fishermen. Paul says, “I am the least of the apostles.” Consider also Ephesians 4.