A young woman once gave this testimony about her faith journey: “When I read in the Bible that God told Moses to pick up the snake by its tail, and that Moses actually did it, I knew that the story was true, that God was really testing Moses, and Moses passed the test.” It was the staff turned into a snake and back into a staff, that was to prove that Moses was really from God, and that it was God Himself requiring Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. ( Exodus 4: 1-4)

“I’m from West Texas”, she said, “and if there’s one thing every kid growing up in West Texas knows, it’s that you never, never pick up a snake by its tail!”

Curiously, that story carried the force of conviction in this young woman’s life experience, and resonated with truth that triggered her faith in the God of Moses, the God of Christ.

“This, said the Lord,” is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of heir fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you, Moses.” (Exodus 4:1-5). More than three thousand years later that sign, given to Moses, brought belief to a young woman in another part of the world, entirely unknown to Moses.

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word That goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10)

The words of God are priceless. That we have a book full of His words is an awesome gift that has helped shape Civilization for millennia. It has inspired great and least, strong and weak, and continues to this very day to send out His “word that goes out from His mouth and does not return empty.”

Everyone’s relationship to God is unique. Whether we’re from West Texas or Paris , France, God knows us and reaches us wherever we are. His Bible holds meaning for everyone, regardless of how distant our circumstances might seem. As Paul wrote to Timothy, “All scripture is God breathed.” (2Timothy 3:16) For the young woman who gave her testimony, the snake told her all she needed to accept the reality of God. God has a meeting place for everyone.

Love in Him,

Prue