Three Signs of Being Called and Sent by God: The Staff (1/3)

Exodus 4:1 Then Moses answered and said, What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice, but say Jehovah has not appeared to you?

Moses was called by God and sent out to speak on His behalf to Pharaoh so that His people would be set free. But Moses, had a little bit of doubt that Pharaoh would listen to him. In his 40s Moses relied very much on his natural strength and boldness. He was said to have been "powerful in his words."

Acts 7:22 And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in his words and works.

40 years after, when Moses was 80 and ready for death, God came to him.


At this time, he had no confidence in his natural strength and abilities. This shows that God does not want a person who can do for themselves, but rather rely on Him to be their strength. He doesn't want a confident person who has the ability to do things on their own, for those people are of themselves. They are living in their flesh. God wants someone who has no confidence in their natural strength, but only rely on the strength of God. These are the ones who will be called to speak and act on His behalf, for nothing is of themselves, but everything they do will be of the Father's.

Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

Moses had no confidence in himself, thinking that his words that are spoken through his own lips and voice will not be heard by Pharaoh. He was willing, but he in himself knew, he has no power.

So God gave him three signs as evidence for Pharaoh and his people that Moses had truly been called and sent by God; (1) The Staff, (2) The Leprous Hand, and (3) The Water Becoming Blood. Each sign is significant to our Christian life and ways of living.

Exodus 4:3-4 And He said, Throw it on the ground. And he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses recoiled from it. / And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out your hand, and take it by its tail - so he stretched out his hand and seized it, and it became a staff in his hand - 

The first sign God gave to Moses was of the staff turning into a serpent. In the eyes of Moses, the staff was just a staff, but in God's eyes, it was the serpent. The Bible shows us, several times, that the serpent always tries to hide himself in something, behind something, or under something. In this case, the staff. Moses relied on the staff to stand and lean on, but as mentioned, God wants man to rely only on him. Thus, the staff is the serpent, usurping Moses and having him rely on something else apart from God to stand and lean on.

The staff becoming a serpent signifies the revealing of anything we rely on apart from God - our education, our occupation, our family, our abilities, our money, etc. This is the serpent usurping man, to look away and not rely on God.

Luke 10:19 Behold, I have given you the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

When God told Moses to "take it by its tail", it became a staff of authority. He was picking it up and holding it in the way opposite to the practice of the worldly people, and instead using it for God's purpose and not for himself. It's a sign that we must heed, and see that if the things we rely on are not for God's purpose, it is for the flesh and is the usurping serpent; Satan, usurping all of mankind by concealing himself within the rods that people rely upon.

Satan is against Christ:

1 John 3:8a He who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning.

From the time the devil began to rebel against God and attempted to overthrow God's rule, he hides himself among worldly and fleshly guises. Those who are called by God must see these things as serpents. They are nothing of God, and are not of God's purpose. If we are not using our "staff" for the purpose of fulfilling God's will and for the building of the body, we are using it against God and the church; worse yet, we are not "using it" but rather being used by Satan.

In all things we do, let us not rely on our worldly and fleshly "staffs." We must pray that we have such a sight to see the world as the devil's playground and have the will and sense to take the serpent "by the tail" and use it under God's purpose, under his will and authority, and nothing of our own.

John 14:29-30 I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and in Me he has nothing; / But this is so that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded Me, so I do. Rise, let us go from here.