My Dear Shepherds,

Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.” (Ex. 4:2–3)

I know what you’re expecting. You’re expecting me to tell you to throw down whatever ordinary thing you hold so God can work wonders with it. But that’s not the real point here. The point is our credibility when we speak for God.

Moses had just said, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?” It’s the question every preacher of God’s Word should ask. What if they do not believe me?

Last Sunday I was a guest preacher. My text was the seventh chapter of Revelation, the multitude around the throne and the everlasting care of God. Afterwards a young woman waited to talk to me. “That was so wonderful,” she gushed. “I have to admit, I saw this old guy get up to preach and I thought, ‘This is really going to be boring,’ but it was so, so inspiring!” I had prayed, right up to the moment before I preached, that my sermon would do more than inform people about heaven, that it would inspire them. And it did!

When his credibility was questioned, Moses had God-given miracles up his sleeve. So did some other prophets like Elijah and Elisha. Jesus, of course, reinforced his claims and preaching with signs and wonders. The early church, likewise. But when Paul wrote of his ministry to the various churches and to his protégés, he emphasized the astonishing power of the gospel he preached.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last . . .. (Rom. 1:16–17)

There is our credibility! Whether we preach as evangelists or as shepherds of the flock, every page of Scripture is wonderfully counterintuitive, and every book is a gospel treasury of life and godliness. So through the power of the Spirit every sermon should be powerful.

But preaching, discipling, and counseling requires our faith. In his book, The Soul-Winner, Spurgeon wrote,

You may have heard the story of one of our first students, who came to me, and said, “I have been preaching now for some months, and I do not think I have had a single conversion.” I said to him, “And do you expect that the Lord is going to bless you and save souls every time you open your mouth?” “No, sir,” he replied. “Well, then,” I said, “that is why you do not get souls saved. If you had believed, the Lord would have given the blessing.”[1]

That’s a good word, not only for soul-winning, but for soul-shepherding. When we preach a long time, week in and week out, we may explain our text, wrapped in presentable homiletics, and call it good. But we must also believe God will work. Faith, powered by prayer, engages the vitality and authority of the Holy Spirit.

We proclaim God’s timeless demand, as Moses did, “Let my people go!” But we do it in the name of the reigning Christ. Like Moses, we reassure our beleaguered flock, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today.” But the staff we hold out over the waters is the gospel.

And that is what you hold in your hands!

Be ye glad!

[1] Spurgeon, C. H. (1895). The Soul Winner: How to Lead Sinners to the Saviour (52–53). New York; Chicago; Toronto: Fleming H. Revell.

Lee Eclov recently retired after 40 years of local pastoral ministry and now focuses on ministry among pastors. He writes a weekly devotional for preachers on Preaching Today.