ESF, Lord’s Day service message
3/30/2025
Turning the Impossible into the Possible
Exodus 4:1-12

1 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?” 2 Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3 The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 “This,” said the LORD, “is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers–the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob–has appeared to you.” 6 Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow. 7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. 8 Then the LORD said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.” 10 Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” 11 The LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

A pilot was flying over a mountainous terrain. As he was flying, he looked down to see two vehicles driving down the highway.
The first vehicle was a semi-trailer truck, pulling his load up and down that highway. The second vehicle was a sports car driven by a guy who was stuck behind the truck.
What the pilot could see was that there was no traffic coming from the other side. The sports car could easily pass the truck with no danger.
The problem was that the car driver could not see that. His view was blocked by the hilly road. He could only see what was immediately in front of him.

Like this car driver, we can see ourselves and situations with only limited perspective. We don’t see the big picture. Then we just repeat our daily troubles without knowing how to overcome them and improve our lives.

When God wants to bless us, He changes our perspective. When we see our difficult circumstances and feel it is impossible, God encourages us to see His almighty power and start seeing the possible.

God called Moses to go to Egypt to free the Israelites who were enslaved by Pharaoh. But Moses felt that the task was impossible for him to do. He had several reasons why it was impossible. First, he failed miserably in doing a similar task in the past. Secondly, he had no resources to accomplish the task-no army, no weapons. Third, he had no ability to do such a task –especially the ability of speech.

But God helped him overcome all those impossible reasons and start believing that he could turn the impossible into the possible.

In our lives, there may be some problems which are impossible for us to overcome. Here, God is teaching us how we can turn the impossible into the possible.

Give what you have to the almighty God
The first thing God did to turn Moses’s impossibility into something possible was to let him experience His supernatural power. God encouraged Moses to start thinking, “Wow, if God is with me with His supernatural power, I can do anything.”

Forty years ago, when he was living in Egypt as a prince, he made a big mistake. When he tried to help the oppressed Israelites, he killed an Egyptian man. He thought that the Israelites would respect him as a vindicator. But they did not. They revealed his crime of murder. He was betrayed and rejected by them. So, he had to flee from Egypt. He became a failure and a fugitive and lived in the desert for forty years. Although it happened forty years ago, Moses still felt the pain of his miserable failure.

The Israelites rejected him even when he tried to help them as a prince of Egypt. How then could he gain respect from them if he went back there as an old, poor shepherd?

So, when God told him to go back to Egypt to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, he felt that he was completely inadequate. Moses expressed his feeling of inadequacy to God by saying, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?” (Ex 4:1)

When you have past failures or have been deeply hurt by rejection and betrayal from people, you may lose confidence in yourself. You may have low self-esteem. You may feel that it is impossible for you to overcome your failure or to trust people again. So, you may avoid people. You may live a passive life. You may avoid God’s call for you to do something for others again.

But there is a way to regain your self-esteem. There is a way to regain confidence so that you can overcome failure. There is a way to turn the impossible caused by your past failures into the possible.

God shows a way through Moses. When Moses expressed to God his feeling of inadequacy based on his past failure and his present poor condition, God performed two miracles for him.

The first miracle was with Moses’ staff. God asked Moses what he had in his hand. Moses answered that he had a staff. And God told him to throw the staff on the ground. When Moses threw the staff on the ground, it turned into a snake. God told Moses to reach out his hand and take the snake by the tail. When Moses did as God told him to do, the snake turned back into a staff.

God also used Moses’ hand to perform another miracle. God turned Moses healthy hand into a leprous hand, then turned it back into a healthy hand again.

God helped Moses experience God’s miracles through what he had. God convinced Moses that although he is an old poor shepherd, God could use him in a mighty way. God convinced Moses that he could turn the impossible into the possible through God’s almighty power.

From the moment God asked Moses, “What’s in your hand,” Moses’ life was never the same again. That simple shepherd’s staff became a tool by which God shook the foundation of the mighty Egyptian empire.

It is important to note that God did not ask Moses to bring what he did not have. God used what Moses had in his hand.

A world-renowned artist picked up a broken brush and used it to create a masterpiece. Someone watching him doing it said, “You need a better tool!” But the artist smiled and said, “It’s not the brush; it’s the hand that holds it.”

God is the master artist. He can use us even if we are broken and do not have much. God uses us as we are and with what we have. God never demands us to bring what we do not have. When God wants to do great things, God uses our small, and little things. By doing so, He makes us boast not of ourselves but to boast about Him (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).

When Samson gave what he had to God, a jawbone, God used it to kill a thousand men (Judges 15: 14-16). When the shepherd boy David gave God what he had, several smooth stones, God used them to kill the giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17:40-50). When a poor widow gave what she had, a little oil, to God, God turned it into abundant oil (1 Kings 17:1-16). When the disciples gave five loaves of bread and two fish to the Lord, the Lord turned them into more than enough food to feed five thousand people (John 6:1-13).
Through all these events, it was not man but God who received the glory.

Try to find God’s call for yourself and give to Him what you have. What is in your hand is what God needs. What is in your hand is what God will use (I Corinthians 12: 4-6). So, what do you have in your hand? There may be a small talent in your hand that God is waiting to use for His great task, to turn something impossible into the possible. God is asking you now. “What is that in your hand?” What talents, what small or little thing do you have? Can you cook? Play the piano? Do math? Hammer a nail? Strike up a conversation? Organize? Repair? Cut hair? Clean? Draw? Take care of a baby?

Give it to God. Use it as God is telling you to use. God will enable you to experience miracles through what you have. And you can turn the impossible tasks in your life into many possibilities.

Trust God’s perfect care for you when you follow His call.
Although God showed Moses 2 miracles, Moses still doubted whether the Israelites would believe that he was sent by God.
God told Moses that He would perform another miracle if the people would not believe him through those two miracles.

God would turn the water of Nile River into blood. The water of Nile River was the lifeline for the Egyptians. So, if the water of Nile turned into blood, their lifeline would be cut off. And they would recognize that God had sent Moses as His servant.

However, Moses had one more serious doubt about doing the task. It was that he was not a good speaker. He had lived as a shepherd in the desert for forty years. During all those years, he had never engaged in public speaking. So, he felt that it was impossible for him to persuade either the Egyptian king Pharaoh or the Israelites. Moses said, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

But God told Moses, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

By these words, God assured Moses that man’s limitation or inability is not a problem for God. If God created his mouth, why couldn’t God enable his mouth to speak well? As the creator of the mouth and tongue of every man, He can certainly enable His servant to speak what he must speak. God assured Moses that God would take care of everything so that Moses could accomplish his task.

When you follow God’s call, God always takes care of everything you need to accomplish His task. So, while you are following God’s call, trust in His perfect care and do not worry about financial needs, any physical needs or any other needs (Matthew 10:9; Luke 10:3-4).

A missionary in Africa was feeling discouraged because of financial struggles. One morning, he sat outside, watching birds pecking at crumbs. Suddenly, Jesus’ word of God’s care came to his mind: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them”(Matthew 6:26).
Moments later, a letter arrived with unexpected financial support. The missionary realized that if God cares for the birds, He surely cares for His children.

God doesn’t look at man’s inability but always looks at the usability through His almighty power. Paul learned how to overcome his own sense of inadequacy through God’s almighty power in 2 Corinthians 3:5-6; Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant–not of the letter but of the Spirit…

Trust the Lord who helps you overcome all disabilities with the supernatural power and wisdom of His Spirit. Let us remember what God told Zerubbabel, “Not by power or by might, but by my Spirit says the Lord, this mountain will be removed” (Zech 4:6,7).

You can be confident of your competence by faith in the power of God in you. Instead of dwelling on your inadequacy, you should put your trust in the ability of God. The same God who enabled Moses to speak well before the Pharaoh and before millions of people, can enable you to accomplish His purpose.

So, stop looking at your disabilities. Hear God’s call for you and follow the call. Look up to God’s almighty ability to care for you. God takes no account of your abilities or lack thereof when it comes to Him displaying His power. He only sees your possibilities. What He looks for is people who are willing to accept God’s almighty care to meet their needs.

When you follow God’s call, He will surely take care of all your needs. If a miracle is necessary, He will perform a miracle. If you need any talent or gift, He will provide it. He will enable you to turn an impossible task into a possible task.