Pennies In My Hands

And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. Exodus 4:2

Mr. Larry, a homeless gentleman, approached me last week on the corner of Commerce and 5^th asking for help to purchase some food. Since he did not like the food in our immediate vicinity and I was short on time to walk to the restaurant he did like, I decided to further engage in conversation, hoping to decipher if his desire for food was genuine. Holding out two hands filled with pennies, Mr. Larry appealed to me, “You see all these people in suits and ties,” he said. “This is all they give me—a whole bunch of pennies.”

Looking in his big, soiled hands with dirty fingernails, I realized that Mr. Larry truthfully had a whole lot of pennies. “Well Mr. Larry,” I explained, “pennies can become dollars. All you have to do is wrap them up and take them to the bank.” To which he replied, “I don’t have time for that. I don’t want all these pennies. I want some dollars.”

I reached in my purse and gave Mr. Larry a few dollars. So grateful, Mr. Larry pulled out handfuls and handfuls of pennies and asked me to take them off his hands for him. When I refused, he insisted. Mr. Larry gave me more in pennies, than I gave him in dollars. I walked away with a purse weighted down with pennies. He walked away with two dollars.

Oftentimes, we plead with God to give us something we already have. He has set His kingdom on the inside of us. His word does not have to be retrieved from the highest of heights or the deepest of depths, it is already on the inside of us, waiting to be recognized and utilized.

God has already provided us everything we need to get to where we need to be, it just may not be in the form we want it. We ask for a few dollars when we may already be holding a few thousand. What things have God trusted your hands to that you are overlooking for something that looks or feels like you want it?