I once had a friend who could fix just about anything with just about little or nothing. I once saw him put a motorcycle back on the road with a piece of wire he picked up beside the highway. If a part wasn’t available, he’d go to his shop and make one. What kept the old jalopies hanging together? Baling wire, that’s what! Farmers used to work wonders with little scrap pieces of this and that. With some glue here, some nails there, they solved problems with the things they had at hand.

It wasn’t much different in biblical times. In my mind, I can see God speaking from Heaven at various times in history. For instance, there once was a man named Shamgar. He found himself in a bit of a tight spot. 600 Philistines — some of the meanest, baddest guys in the world — were coming after him. God might have said, “SHAMGAR, WHAT’S IN YOUR HAND?” In Judges 3:31 we read, “After Ehud came Shamgar, son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He, too, saved Israel.” Do you know what an oxgoad is? It’s a long, round stick with a sharp metal point on the end of it. It was used to coax the ox toward better behavior! Shamgar used what was in his hand!

On another occasion, Samson was facing 1,000 men. He didn’t have access to tanks, missiles, big guns, or fighter planes. I can almost hear God shouting down, “SAMSON, WHAT’S IN YOUR HAND?” In Judges 15:16, we read, “Then Samson said, ‘With a donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey’s jawbone I have killed a thousand men.'” Samson used what was in his hand!

David came to the battlefield as a youngster. He decided to eliminate Gigantic Goliath. In 1 Samuel 17:38-40 we read about Saul’s high tech solution to David’s protection problem.“Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on Saul’s sword over the tunic and tried walking around. ‘I cannot go in these,’ he said to Saul, ‘because I am not used to them.'” David, are you listening? “DAVID, WHAT’S IN YOUR HAND?” David answered by junking Saul’s armor. “So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.” David used what was in his hand! In David’s case, he’d used his actual hands when faced with other crises. In I Samuel 17, David cites his destruction of a lion and a bear – with his bare hands!

In the New Testament, John relates the following story (John 6) “Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?'” WHAT’S IN YOUR HAND, SON? Just a pitifully small lunch by most people’s standards. His lunch, when blessed by Jesus, fed several thousand folks. There were twelve basketsfull of leftovers!

WHAT ARE THE LIFE LESSONS?

• What’s in YOUR hand?
• We face giants, enemies, and obstacles of many different kinds.
• Like God’s servants of old, we must be prepared to act “instant in season and out of season”.
• We don’t always have a lengthy preparation time to seek out complicated solutions.
• We don’t always have time to get “prayed up”, “studied up”, etc.
• We don’t always have access to a special committee.
• The tools of the Christian trade must be close at hand — in our hands — if we’re to be “workmen who need not be ashamed”.
• God is looking for people who are willing to creatively use those things they already have in their hands.
  • BE PREPARED!
  • BE WILLING!
  • DON’T JUST DREAM — DO!

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