The Israelites were camped at
Raphidim as the Lord had commanded. Then suddenly the warriors of
Amalek came to make war against them. The Amalekites were a nomadic
tribe that lived in the desert region of the Dead Sea. They were
descendants of Israel's twin brother, Esau. They were a hostile
tribe and they made their living by attacking other tribes and
taking away the plunder. They took pleasure in killing people. They
were a warlike nation to be reckoned with.
Now the poor Israelites had never
been in a battle before. All that they ever were was slaves.
Nothing more. They didn't know about fighting and military
strategies. They didn't know when to attack or where to begin, they
knew nothing at all. But luckily they had God on their side and
Moses knew this. That is why he didn't go with them into battle; he
assigned Joshua as their leader. He knew the battle was to be
fought on a spiritual side.
So Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to
the top of a nearby hill where they could observe the battle. Moses
soon realized that the Israelites were winning when he kept his
staff up and they were losing when he let his staff down. Thus he
tried to keep his staff up, but his arms grew so tired that Aaron
and Hur had to help him to keep his arms in the air. They kept it
like that for the whole day and this act of Moses won the battle
for the Israelites. He knew that their battle was spiritual and not
against flesh and blood.
Sometimes we are so locked into the
battle below in the valley, that we lose perspective of the true
battle up on the 'hill'. We need to realize that it is much more
profitable, to keep our eyes on God and 'fight the battle' by
praying, fasting and giving all of our problems into His hands,
than it is struggling in the physical battle ourselves. Of course
we need to move when God says we must like I have discussed in a
previous devotion, but we must fight the battle first on a
spiritual level and only then on a physical level.
Paul also encourages us to lift our
eyes up to heaven. That is where our true help lies. We need to
focus more on what is going up in heaven, than what is going on
down here on earth. Our true victory is in Jesus and in Him alone.
He has won every battle there is, and we are part of His Body and
we need to live in the reality of it. Paul says it lovely in
Colossians 3:1:
"Since you have been raised to new
life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where
Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and
power."
The Israelites would never ever
have won the battle out of their own strength. They were a bunch of
slaves who were forced into combat against a crafty war-like
nation. In the natural it is impossible that they could have won,
but they did. Why? Because Moses, their leader, focused on God and
knew that their victory was in Him and not in their own strength.
And we should do it too.
Thank you God that You are there to
fight our battles on our behalf! We are so grateful that we don't
need to face the 'war-like nations' on our own, but that You are
facing them with us. We praise Your Name! Amen