Rally to the Lord!
Scripture:
10So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12When 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. 13So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
14Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner.
16 He said, “Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the Lord, the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”
Exodus 17:10-16
Devotional:
I serve as the Youth Ministry Director here at Believers Chapel. and lately we have been talking a lot with the Teens about what worship looks like, from being in worship during a Sunday service to living our lives as worship to God. During one of our discussions, Exodus 17 was referenced. So I spent the following week diving deeper into this scripture, and that leads us to today's devotional.
It can feel easy to lift our hands to God in praise when life is going smoothly, when we are feeling happy, the sun is out, work is going great, and relationships are strong. With spring upon us and this gloomy cold winter soon to be in the past…we can rally behind the feeling of warm weather, vitamin D ,and Barbeques…
It can also be hard to lift our hands to God in praise when we are in the middle of a hard winter, when it feels like the enemy is constantly at our doorstep, when the army is massing against us to take us down. This winter has been a challenge for me, work-wise, mentally, and scheduling-wise. Nothing felt as if it was coming together properly. I would have days when I found it a challenge to even read my Bible or focus on worship, and some days I just looked forward to bed. How many of you can relate to a season where it feels we are in the middle of a battlefield? In Exodus 17, we see an army approaching Moses and the Israelites. And we see Moses respond not with fear; he did not pull away from God…He chose to be obedient to God, to stand on a hill, and to reach towards heaven until the battle was complete. I don't know about you, but standing on a hill with hands raised high sounds like an act of worship to me. See, Moses did not just raise his hands and call it quits when he felt he was done. He stayed there from the start of the day until the end of the day…until God had won the battle, Moses sat in worship and obedience to God. He even had to recruit help to maintain his arms in the air. And after all that, God tells him to record this victory so that everyone will know. God reminds us that he doesn't just bring us through the battle, but he brings complete victory. In that last verse, we see Moses call this place “ The lord is my banner “. A war banner is something to be rallied behind. It sparks motivation, gives soldiers a point of focus, a place to look and know this is where I can stand behind.
I do not know what you are going through, but I do know that sometimes we need to keep our hands in praise to God, even when we feel defeated, exhausted, or when we have to bring in other people to help hold us up. I encourage you to remember to stop trying to fight through life on your own strength and begin to rally behind the banner of God, a God who always has and always will achieve complete victory. Stand on that mountain and keep on praising.
Prayer:
Lord, I am weak but you are strong. I do not know how this plays out but I know that you are worthy of my praise despite how I am feeling. Through you I will not be defeated, through you victory is gained. The lord is my banner, and I rally behind you.