What Happens When God Uses the Ordinary?

Sometimes God uses things that seem almost too ordinary to matter. Imagine someone coming to mind in the middle of your day, and for no particular reason you feel prompted to send them a simple message: “I was thinking about you. I’m praying for you.” To you, it may be nothing more than a few words typed on your phone. But perhaps that person had just asked God for encouragement. What seemed ordinary in your hands became something God used at exactly the right moment.

The Bible is filled with moments like this. Moses was tending sheep when he noticed an ordinary bush burning in the wilderness. What caught his attention was that although it was surrounded by fire, it was not being consumed. Moses drew closer, and God spoke. Suddenly, ordinary ground became holy ground because the presence of God was there. The bush itself was not remarkable. God’s presence made the difference.

Soon afterward, God asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?” Moses answered, “A staff.” It was simply the everyday tool of a shepherd, something he had probably carried for years. Yet after Moses surrendered himself to God’s calling, Scripture later describes that same object as “the staff of God.” The wood had not changed. The source of its power was never the staff itself. What changed was whose purpose it now served.

Through that staff, Moses stretched out his hand as God displayed signs before Pharaoh, divided the sea, and demonstrated His power before Israel. Scripture gives us other pictures of God using instruments for His purposes as well. In Jeremiah 51:20, God speaks of a “war club” or “battle axe” as an instrument in His hand. The passage is not directly naming believers as God's battle axe, but the image illustrates an important truth: an instrument has no authority apart from the one who wields it. Its significance comes from the hands it is surrendered to.

And something similar happened to Moses himself. He had once stood at a distance looking at a bush marked by God's presence. Later, after spending time with God on Mount Sinai, Moses came down without realizing that his own face was shining. The man who once looked at the fire had begun to reflect the glory of the One he encountered.

Centuries later, Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world,” and then told His followers, “You are the light of the world.” Before returning to the Father, He promised His disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses.” Then at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon them and what appeared among them were tongues as of fire. John the Baptist had already said that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.

And Jesus did not call His disciples merely to observe what God could do. He sent them. He told them to proclaim the kingdom, heal the sick, and raise the dead. He told them that He had given them authority over the power of the enemy. Throughout Acts, we see ordinary men and women becoming instruments through whom God demonstrated His compassion and power. Peter and John prayed for a man who could not walk, and he was healed. Peter prayed for Tabitha, and she was restored to life. Yet the disciples never became the source of the power. God remained the source.

That is the thread running through all of these pictures. Moses saw the fire, then encountered the God of the fire, and eventually his own life reflected God's glory. The staff in his hand became something God used. The disciples waited for the Holy Spirit, were filled with His power, and were then sent as witnesses. God does not simply invite us to admire His presence from a distance. He calls us closer, fills us, and then sends us.

We are not literally the burning bush, and Scripture does not directly call Christians “the staff of God” or “God's battle axe.” But these pictures help us understand something important: God delights in working through surrendered vessels. Your hands may look ordinary. Your voice may sound ordinary. Your abilities, resources, work, home, testimony, or opportunities may seem small. But when they are surrendered to God, they become available for His purposes.

The question, then, is not whether we are extraordinary enough to be used by God. Moses only had a shepherd's staff. The disciples were ordinary people. What mattered was not the greatness of the vessel, but the greatness of the God working through it.