An Exhortation from Exodus 17
February 22, 2011
Dear Friends,
There are moments in the Bible and in our own lives as well that can seem so totally random. I sometimes try and think what it would have been like to witness firsthand some of the events described in the Bible and how I might have reacted had I seen what they saw. For example, in Exodus 17, we are given the account when the Amalekites come out to fight against the children of Israel. Joshua is going out to fight and Moses, Aaron and Hur are going up to a hill so that Moses can hold the rod in the air. Here is what the account says,
As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up-one on one side, one on the other-so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.(Ex. 17:11-13 NIV)
Now imagine yourself fighting at the bottom of the hill. It really doesn’t matter how hard you fight. If Moses is holding his hands up, you are going to win. If Moses isn’t holding his hands up, you are going to lose. You may only be vaguely aware of what is going on up on the hill as you are pretty busy fighting armed Amalekites. As a soldier fighting hand to hand with Amalekites, this weird scenario with Moses holding the rod might be very frustrating as well as appear to be totally arbitrary. However, God doesn’t do things randomly. He is always working for the good. The immediate lesson for the children of Israel is the important idea that God was giving them the victory. In other words, no matter how well prepared and valiantly they fought, without God on their side, no victory would be forthcoming. The victory was God’s, not theirs.
Yet, I think that in this seemingly random story, I think there is a very important lesson for us. Why did God ask Moses to raise his arms holding a rod? God could have told Moses to walk in circles or juggle rocks. I think he told him to hold the rod for you and me.
We are engaged in our own battles in this world. We are soldiers for Christ and fighting the good fight of faith. We too, like those men of ancient Israel, look up on a hill and see a man with his arms outstretched on a wooden pole – the Lord Jesus on the cross – with two men at his side. Yet, unlike Moses, our Savior isn’t getting tired. His outstretched arms are not sporadically getting tired and dropping to his sides, but absolutely strong and consistent. We don’t experience win/lose because of the man on the hill. We only experience victory in Christ. Furthermore, our Joshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus) is not only up on the hill cheering us on and willing us to win, but down in the valley with us and by our side with his sword in hand. Even though we are down in the valley of the shadow of death, we have nothing to fear. Jesus is not only looking down on us, he is by our side.
When things get rough or seem very random, remember we have someone working with us and for us who will never tire, sleep or fail us.
I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.(1Ti 2:8 KJV)
Have a great week,
Comments»
Kyle,
Very though proviking. I find much I can agree with. Focusing on ourselves does not glorify God. The focus needs to be on others.
One minor point. I know that you already know this, so I think it’s just our pattern of speaking. No matter what we do in this life, we can’t get ourselves into the kingdom. God will never ‘owe’ us a place.
I have become acutely award of phrases that we use which can convey the wrong idea. In prayer we often hear “let me be worthy of a place in the kingdom”. We won’t be worthy – it’s a gift.
I find myself catching the words that are trying to escape from my mouth. Words like “Jesus came to earth” or “Jesus was sent to earth”. No, Jesus was born.
Some may think this is nit picking, but as I am working with very young disciples I see that some false doctrines linger in the exhorts because we are not clear in our words in Bible classes.
The subject of this TFTW is one that we are particularly struggling with right now, so that is why it touched me. It can’t be earned. It is a gift that has been offered, but must be accepted. There is not place in the ecclesia for one-ups-manship.
Thanks for making me think.
I don’t know how this got attached to last week’s thought. This goes with Our Job for February 28, 2011