Exodus 4:1-9 "And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land."
In the previous chapter of this book, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. God had informed Moses that He would use him to bring the children of Israel up out of Egypt. The LORD had told Moses exactly what to say to the Israelites. God had told Moses that the children of Israel would listen to him (Exodus 3:18).
Moses response to God was “You are making a mistake.” After seeing the miracle of the bush that burned and was not consumed, Moses still doubted God. After hearing God’s voice speaking directly to him, he still doubted God. Moses doubted God because he could not get his eyes off of himself.
God, in His abundant mercy, did not chide Moses for his unbelief. Instead, He gave Him further wonders to help him. As a keeper of his father-in-law’s flocks, Moses had a rod in his hand. God made sure that Moses understood it was just a rod, then God told him to cast the rod on the ground.
When Moses threw the rod to the ground, God caused it to become a serpent. Moses did the same thing I would do: he ran. But God spoke to him and told him to take the serpent by the tail, and it became a rod again. God also gave Moses the ability to perform two other wonders at that time. He gave Moses this power to encourage Moses that he would be able to use these wonders to convince his brethren that God had indeed sent him.
Dear servants of God, He does not make mistakes. If He has called us, then He will send us to bear witness of Him. If He sends us to bear witness, He will provide us with all we need to do so. He will help our unbelief so that we will not doubt that He is able to use us to show Himself to others. Live the truth of Jesus Christ, and go, doubting nothing (Acts 10:20)!