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What Is in Your Hand?

Exodus 4:2

The first step to changing someone's personal world depends on how that person answers the question God asked Moses in Exodus 4:2: "What is that in your hand?" Once Moses answered, God commanded him to open his hands and release it. As Moses relinquished it, the Lord returned it to him with fresh power and purpose.

What is in your hand? Are your fingers open, stretched upward, releasing everything to God and ready to receive all He wants to give you? Or are you grasping onto life with a death-grip? What are you tightly grasping, trying to keep under your control, unwilling to give to the Lord? Perhaps it is a relationship, a possession, a plan, a goal, or a dream. Maybe it is an attitude of bitterness you should have released months ago. Perhaps God is unable to bless you because your hand is not open to receive.

A closed hand falsely assumes that we know more about what is best for us than the all-knowing God whose wisdom is unfathomable. An open hand, however, is the humble awareness that the Lord Jesus can do more than we can do. His plan for us is better than any we can devise. An open hand says, "Lord, You know how precious this thing is to me, but I acknowledge You as more precious. You have a greater plan for my life, and I would regret missing it by selfishly clinging to my own tarnished treasures. I open my hand in surrender and trust."

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