Exodus 4:6-8
And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
The Lord now gives Moses a second sign, and it is a deeply personal one. The first sign involved the rod in his hand. This one involves his own hand. He places it into his bosom, and when he draws it out, it is leprous as snow. Then at the word of the Lord he places it back again, and when he draws it out the second time, it is restored like the rest of his flesh. This was not only a miracle for Moses to witness. It was a message for Moses to carry.
Leprosy in Scripture is often a picture of sin. It spreads. It defiles. It corrupts. It renders a man unclean and unable to heal himself. So when Moses sees his hand become leprous and then sees it made whole again, there is a picture here of what only God can do. The Lord is able to take what is defiled and make it clean. He is able to restore what is ruined. He is able to reverse what man cannot reverse on his own.
That makes this sign especially powerful because it is not merely about outward display. It points to testimony. Moses would not only go with a rod in his hand. He would go as a man who had personally seen the restoring power of God. And that is one of the great tools the Lord gives His people in every generation. He gives them a testimony. He gives them a story of what He has done in their own life.
That matters more than many people realize. A testimony is not a small thing. It is not something to be hidden away as though it were incidental. When God has touched a life, forgiven sin, changed direction, restored what was broken, or brought someone out of darkness into light, that becomes a powerful witness. People may argue with doctrine they do not understand, and they may resist truths they do not want to hear, but there is something strong about a changed life that is hard to deny.
Share your story.
Tell what the Lord has done.
Tell how He met you, how He brought conviction, how He forgave, how He restored, how He changed your desires, how He carried you through what you never could have survived on your own. There is power in that because it is not theory. It is not borrowed language. It is not secondhand religion. It is the work of God made visible in a human life.
And notice too that this sign came from Moses’ bosom. In a sense, it came from near the heart. That is often where testimony comes from as well. Not from polished performance, but from something personal, something real, something the Lord has done in the deep places of a man’s life. The most useful servants are not merely those who have information. They are those who can say, This is what the Lord has done for me.
The Lord knew Moses would need that. The people would not simply need a man with arguments. They would need a man who had encountered God. And the same is true today. One of the strongest tools in ministry is a life that has been touched by grace. God uses ability, yes. He uses what is in your hand. But He also uses testimony. He uses the evidence of a hand once marked and now made whole.
That voice is powerful.
And it is hard to deny.