ALL great works are done by serving God with what we have in hand. Moses was keeping sheep in Midian; God sent him to save Israel, but he shrank from the undertaking. We sympathize with Jethro’s herdsman, alone, a stranger, owning not a lamb that he watched. He had nothing but his shepherd’s rod, cut out of a thicket, the mere crab stick with which he guided his sheep. Any day he might throw it away and cut a better one. And God said, What is that in thine hand? With this rod, with this stick, thou shalt save Israel. And so it proved. What is that in thine hand, Shamgar? An ox-goad, with which I urged my lazy beast. Use it for God, and Shamgar’s ox-goad defeats the Philistines. What is that in thine hand, David? My sling, with which I keep the wolves from the sheep. Yet with that sling he slew Goliath, whom an army dared not meet. What is that in thine hand, disciple? Nothing but five barley loaves and two small fishes. Bring them to me; give them to God; and the multitude is fed. What is that in thine hand, poor widow? Only two mites. Give them to God; and behold! the fame of your riches fills the world. What hast thou, weeping woman? An alabaster box of ointment. Give it to God. Break it and pour it upon the Saviour’s head, and its sweet perfume is a fragrance in the church even now. What hast thou, Dorcas? My needle. Use it for God, and those coats and garments keep multiplying, and are clothing the naked still. You are a manufacturer, or a merchant, or a mechanic, or a man of leisure, or a student, or a sewing woman. God wants each of you to serve him where you are. You have your business; use it for God. Order it in a godly manner. Do not allow any wickedness in it. Give godly wages; preach Jesus to your clerks, not by a long face, but by being like him, doing good. Use your profits for God, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, comforting the wretched, spreading the gospel far and wide. What a field you have to glorify God in, just where you are! If you have nothing, use your tools for him; he can glorify himself with them as easily as he could with a shepherd’s stick, an ox-goad, a sling, or two mites. A poor girl who had nothing but a sewing machine used it to aid a feeble church. All her earnings above her needs were given toward building a house of worship, and in a year she paid more than others a hundred times richer than she. So you can do if you will. Think of the widow with her two mites, the woman with the alabaster box, and Dorcas and her garments; you do as much and have as great a reward.—Selected.