The Amalekites attacked the
Israelites at Rephidim. As I discussed last week, the Amalekites
were a warlike nation, fierce in battle, a force to be reckoned
with. And the Amalekites were the Israelites' first physical
encounter with any nation, as they had never been in a battle
before!
Now as I discussed last week, Moses
didn't go with the Israelites into battle. We don't know if the
Lord told him not to or whether he knew the battle was a spiritual
one. But never the less, Joshua led the Israelites into battle and
Moses, Aaron and Hur observed from the hill close by. Now I
discussed last week how Moses held up his staff and by doing that,
he won the battle for Israel by doing spiritual warfare and not
physical warfare. Aaron and Hur were there to help him do just
that.
Today I would like to look for a
moment at the battle from the Israelites' point of view. I wonder
what they thought when Moses didn't go with them into battle? It
was the first time since the first plague that Moses was not right
there with them. I wonder if some of them murmured amongst
themselves something to the effect of:
'Just as I thought, when the going
gets tough he makes sure to get out of the way.'
'Look at Moses, he is not fighting
and enduring the hardship as we are, who does he think he is?'
'Look at him, nice and safe up
there on the hill, while we are being slaughtered down here.'
I think you get the idea. The Bible
doesn't mention anything, but I just have a feeling that they did
complain. Knowing the Israelites they most probably did.
Today we tend to do the same. We
are very critical sometimes of our spiritual leaders and think that
they have it easy. We think that we are doing all the tough
difficult things and they are nice and cosy, able to spend lovely
time with God. We tend to discard the spiritual responsibility that
they have and only look at what they are physically doing. While in
fact they are winning the battle for us by focusing on the
spiritual warfare God has placed in their hearts to do.
We should not be critical of them,
but we should rather be like Aaron and Hur and help to keep 'their
hands up'. We can extend a hand of help where we can, we can give
them encouragement when needed, we can pray for them or we can even
help on a physical level with their families/workload. Think first
before you tend to think that they have it easy and you have it
difficult. Remember, God's roles for each one of us is different,
but no less important.
Thank you Father for the spiritual
leaders in our lives. Father we pray that You will bless them
abundantly and that You will lead them unto new heights
spiritually. Give them the strength to carry on. In Jesus Name.
Amen