Do you ever feel ordinary? Nothing special? Inadequate? I think we all do at one time or another.
When I face an especially challenging set of patient symptoms, I long for the insight of Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, or Jonas Salk, the creator of the polio vaccine. But no, I’m just an ordinary PA, seeing ordinary patients, who sometimes have extraordinary problems. And sometimes I ask God, “Why me?”
That’s how Moses felt. For the last 40 years he’d been leading a quiet life in the wilderness, just tending a few sheep, doing nothing special with his life. He was just an ordinary shepherd, leading ordinary sheep through ordinary days. But then he saw that burning bush and His whole life changed.
When Moses encountered God on that fateful day and heard what He wanted him to do, he drew back in fear. Moses had never felt so ordinary, so inadequate, in his entire life. He said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11 NIV).
But God was ready for him. He said to Moses, “I will be with you.” (v. 12). That should have been enough, but Moses still balked. So God did something extraordinary with something ordinary. He said, “What is that in your hand?” (Exodus 4:2).
Moses looked in bewilderment at the shepherd’s rod in his hand and replied, “A staff.”
Well, you know the rest of the story. God turned that staff into a snake, used it to transform water into blood, to part the Red Sea, and to save an entire nation. God used the ordinary to do the extraordinary and changed the world.
God can do the same with you. No matter how ordinary you feel, God wants to do extraordinary things in your life, if you will let Him. This morning, He says to you, “What is that in your hand?” What are your talents, your skills, your passions, your resources? He wants them all, no matter how ordinary. Just give them to the Father today. Then get ready! Your ordinary life is about to become extraordinary!