There are several ones in Scripture beside the one talent featured in Matthew 25:14-30. Abraham had one promised son. Moses had one rod. The widow woman had just enough meal to make one cake during famine in Israel.
Yet Abba Yahuah asked them to give Him their one thing—that which they leaned on and represented security to them.
He asked Abraham to give up his son.
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Genesis 22:2
He asked the widow woman to give up her one last cake.
And she said, As Yahuah thy Elohim liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
1 Kings 17:12-13
In both cases, they said yes, and their one thing returned to them more than they could have ever asked or thought (Eph. 3:20).
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Ephesians 3:20
Before Yah commanded Moses to throw down his one thing, his rod, He interestingly, asked him what was in His hand.
And Yahuah said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
Exodus 4:2
Of course, Yah knew. He knows all there is to know about us. By asking Moses this obvious question, Moses’ attention was fully placed on his one rod. In that moment, he fully absorbed the truth that his one thing was absolutely an ordinary and limited object in his hand of flesh. Yet when released to the Almighty, his rod became something extraordinary that was used in the deliverance of an entire nation.
As in the parable in Matthew 25:14-30, everyone has different Yah-given talents (gifts and abilities). Some have many talents. While others have a few talents. Yet all of us have as least one talent.
Our Creator does not esteem more talents over fewer talents or even one talent. He simply asks for our talent. As with Moses, He wants us to see the futility of holding tight to our one talent. He asks us as well. “What’s in your hand (your/my name here)?”
How do you and I respond? Do we cast our one talent at the feet of the Messiah even as Moses released his grip on his one rod? When we do so, we let go of our finite thoughts about our one talent. We let go of pride. We let go of misbelief and unbelief. We let go of sin. We let go of the past. We let go of the future (how we think the future should be).
On the other hand, when we refuse to let go of our one thing, our one talent, we are like the man with the one talent in Matthew 25:14-30. He chose to keep his talent to himself by burying it in the dirt.
And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
Matthew 25:25
His misguided thoughts about the man who gave him the talent drove him to dirty up his one and only talent.
Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Master, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
Matthew 25:24
There was no light in the dirt and therefore no ability to see how to be a wise steward of his one talent.
How are we able to willingly release our one talent to the Almighty? I can think of two practical ways. First and foremost, Beloved, we must come to know the truth of who our Creator is. Then and only then can we trust Him to release our talent to Him.
No one trusts strangers. Likewise, it is difficult to trust our Creator with the talent that He gave us, if we don’t know Him. Essential to coming to knowing Him is to interact with Him through the pages of His written Word and walking out His Word day by day.
A second way to release our one talent is to just start where we are. Unlike the man with the one talent in Matthew 25 who never did anything, we must simply start with our one talent, our one thing. Starting small is perfectly fine. Never starting is not. Start small, but just start.
Beloved, only after we cast our one talent from our hand to our Creator’s hand that we become submitted laborers in the end-time harvest.
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Matthew 9:37-38
Matthew 9:37-38
What’s in your hand?
Originally penned 9-18-20
