Jehovah Nissi

Victory in the Valley: Trusting God Through Trials

Bible Passage: Ex 17:8–16

We are in the middle of a sermon series called the names of God.

We started with:

Jehovah Jireh – the God who provides

Yahweh Elohim – The Mighty God of Creation that knows us by name

El Roi – The God who sees us

Jehovah Rapha – The God who heals.

The morning the name we look at is Jehovah Nissi

Friday night there was a huge college basketball game. The #9 North Carolina Tar Heels came to Allen Fieldhouse to play the Kansas Jayhawks.

Two of the most storied names in the history of college basketball and there are so many ties between the two programs yet NC has not played at Kansas since 1960.

NC has an all time record of 2,372–860

KU has an all time record of 2,393–896

Both schools have won 6 national championships

So when you walk into Allen Fieldhouse you look up in the rafters and this is what you see, They hang banners for their championships.

And those banners have meaning. They are personal. Now I don’t remember the 1922, 1923 or 1952 championships.

but 1988 was Danny and the Miracles beating Oklahoma. I was a senior in High School.

2008 I watch with Aaron who was 8 years old. He only made it until halftime until he fell asleep but the game was exciting as Mario Chalmers hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to OT so KU could beat Memphis.

Then in 2022, Aaron I watched together as KU beat North Carolina with a one of their best players being a kid Aaron had played against.

Banners help us remember. They honor the past while reminding us of our victory, our people and our potential.

They also hold significance in battle.

There was a military purpose to flags and banners. Soldiers can’t see the whole battlefield, and even in the day of bow and arrow or sling missile weapons, it’s not safe for leaders on horseback to lead in the literal sense.

People are inclined to be followers. But what is there to follow? Aha! A banner. Up on a pole, it gives direction and unity to a scattered band of frightened soldiers. If the banner is elevated, the band as a whole has not been defeated. If the banner is advancing, your side looks to be winning.

Those chosen to carry or hold the banner had been honored, even if it was a dubious honor that was likely to get the flag-bearer killed, and if one fell, another might raise up the banner. So the banner enjoyed a degree of immortality. That helped stiffen morale.

Even in WW2, it encouraged the Marines fighting on Iwo Jima to see an American flag on the summit of Suribachi, the mountain that overlooked the island. Not only was it a visible indication that we were winning, but it was reason to feel secure in the sense that you knew that the Japanese didn’t have anybody up there with binoculars, signaling your location to Japanese artillery.

The verse Marty read this morning Isaiah 11:10,11

10 On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His resting place will be glorious.

12 He will lift up a banner for the nations and gather the dispersed of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

So Jehovah Nissi means the Lord is our Banner

And that name was given to God by Moses in Exodus 17

1. Confronting Our Commitments

Exodus 17:8-10

Exodus: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition Behind the Text

According to Genesis, Amalek was Esau’s grandson

And the Amalekites are his descendants. The Israelites are descendants of his brother Jacob. And they do not like each other. Word has reached them of the Israelites move from Egypt and they know they are coming towards them. The Amalekites are a waring people, God’s people had never been in battle.

And we are told in verse 8 that they came and fought. This not a planned battle, this was an attack, an ambush.

And the didn’t fight fair. In Deuteronomy 25:17-19 we get more information on the attack.

17 “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, 18 how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God. 19 Therefore it shall be, when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.

They did not fight fair.

So Moses has to act and there are two significant things about his response.

First he chooses Joshua to lead the army. Moses trust Joshua and he will become a great leader but he is untested in battle.

But Moses knows Joshua is the right man to lead the army.

Then Moses says he will be watching from a hill with the staff of God in my hand.

This staff is special. The staff itself does not possess supernatural power but God uses the staff to perform miracles.

But the staff was given to Moses by God. It had already turned into a snake. It was used to help bring the plaques in Egypt. And it brought water when Moses used it to strike a rock.

So Moses goes up the hill and takes Aaron and Hur with him and watches the battle

The Amalekites' confrontation symbolizes the battles and trials we face today.

Moses sending Joshua to fight while he went to the hill with God's staff suggests the need for both action and reliance on God.

In every life's trial, action must be paired with faith, trusting in God's power behind each endeavor.

2. Community's Crucial Role

Exodus 17:11-13

As Moses held his hands up, Israel prevailed. This symbolizes our dependence on divine strength.

I want us to make two observations through this. And the first one is this, the importance of community. Because in that moment, as Moses is tiring, and the tides of the battle are turning, Aaron and her, some of the guys that were closest to Moses, they realize this, and they come to his side.

They bring up a rock or a boulder. They have Moses lean up against it, and each one of them on either side grab Moses' arms and lift them up for him. They support his arms so that Moses can continue to cry out, so that Moses could continue to keep that banner high, to keep that rod, that staff high.”

I believe, what God has called us to do for one another. We support each other. We lift each other's arms up so that none of us grows weary and tired of crying out to God.

We rally, right? Because when Satan, when the enemy attacks one of us, he attacks all of us. Did you get that?

When he attacks one, he attacks all.

That's the second observation is this, is we should never grow tired of crying out.

But that's hard, right? Life happens, circumstances happen. Things go sideways.

None of us can be strong all the time. None of us. At some point, each one of us is going to show some kind of weakness, and Satan, like we heard earlier, is waiting around wanting to exploit it and wanting to attack it.

So, as a body of believers, we are called to help one another, to hold each other's arms up, to cry out, God, you are my banner. And that's the picture that we see here in the middle of this battle, in Exodus 17.

Just like Moses needed Aaron and Hur, we need a supportive community in our battles. Encourage the congregation to seek prayer partners and support systems within the church as a form of spiritual upliftment.

3. Chronicling Our Champion

Exodus 17:14-16

The Israelites go on to win and defeat the Amalekites and secure their freedom. But at the end of this battle, we see in Exodus 17, 13, and 14, something that's kind of funny to me is, it says the Lord says to Moses, write this down and make sure that Joshua hears it. Right after the battle, God tells Moses, hey, I want you to write this down, so this guy who was just fighting in the battle hears it.

I have five points today. Point number one You are going to face enemies with more skill and experience.

You're gonna face things, and you're gonna be like, this is greater than me. This is beyond my skill. This is beyond my expertise.

Have you ever gone through this moment where it's like the greatest season, and then the enemy will attack, the enemy attacks in the moments where we're most vulnerable?

The Israelites not only didn't know to fight, but they hadn't fought yet. They hadn't needed to fight. When they were at the Red Sea, and they had the Egyptian army behind them, did they have to fight the Egyptian army?

They didn't. God parted the Red Sea.

And now the odds were against them.

Point two is this, the enemy with comes at you where you are most vulnerable.

So where are the Israelites most vulnerable? Where does the enemy attack you?

Do you think the enemy is going to come at your strengths? You think the enemy is going to come at you in the areas that you have all those years of experience overcoming? Or is the enemy going to come at you at the areas that you're the weakest?

The enemy also attacks the Israelites. Watch this. Right after they had received water from a rock.

How many of you have ever drank water from a rock?

It was a miracle. It was a high moment. The enemy often comes at us just after our biggest victories.

That's when the enemy attacks our weakest areas, in our weakest moments.

But the good news is and this is point three we don’t fight this fight alone.

Moses was needed, Joshua was needed. Point number three, some battles can only be won through working with others. We live in this Western culture, this American culture where we think I don't need anyone, I don't need anything, just me and God.

We know there are people that say hey, if I got God, I'm good. Like if you have God, you have all you need.

That is correct, but it's incomplete. You need other people. We talk a lot about getting involved.

If you're not volunteering yet, I'll encourage you to get involved, volunteer. It's not what we want from you, it's more what we want for you, for you to discover a life of purpose, for you to make a difference in other people's lives. You'll be like, wow, like you come alive in your purpose.”

We think that this battle can be won by ourselves, but we need other people. There's three elements to this battle.

There's fighting on the battlefield. That's Joshua and the army.

There's intercession on the mountain. That's Moses.

And then there's power from heaven. God uses human instruments to accomplish divine purposes.

And I find this interesting. That Moses is up on the mountain, and when his hands are raised, the Israelites are winning. But when his hands begin to fall, they start losing.”

Our battle is not against flesh and blood. It's a spiritual battle. And Moses is so exhausted that they have to bring a rock for him.

And he sits down.

They're down there fighting. And he's sitting, but he might be doing the most important thing. But Moses can't do it by himself.

Not only does he need Joshua and the army, he needs Erin and her, who hold his arms up. You ever just need people to help hold your arms up? Like, I can't do this on my own.

I want to say I can do it on his own. And this is not just about his shoulders getting exhausted. This is about on the inside.

I need, I'm so grateful that there are people who hold up my arms. because you get to a point where you're just like, I just got to keep this raised. It says that he stayed steady till, steady till sunset.

Point number four. Victory isn't going to come through great strength, but great endurance.

They reject you, you keep going.

You don't know how the situation gonna end up, but you just keep showing up

You've been overlooked at work, but you just keep showing up.

You wake up in the morning and you haven't even really slept. You're not even really waking up. You're exhausted.

You feel like laying in bed all day, but you get up, you get dressed and you head to work anyway. You just keep going.

You see, sometimes the victory isn't one moment of great strength but in continuing to fight.

Point five, When you're following God and when you belong to God, you don't fight for victory, you fight already victorious.

And so Moses built an altar.

They didn't build an altar to Moses. Moses didn't say, build an altar to me. That's how our culture wants to do things.

It wasn’t an altar to Joshua or the other Israelites. It was an altar to God.

We live in this world where culture has a banner, and culture has built an altar.

And culture's banner and culture's altar are not God's banner and God's altar. And culture wants us to identify under this banner and worship at this altar.

When you're under God's banner and God is leading you, God's enemies are your enemies. And your enemies have become God's enemies.

The altar named 'The Lord is My Banner' invokes the ultimate victory found in Christ. Jesus intercedes for us, ensuring our eternal victory over life's battles and encouraging faithfulness in God's support.

This passage foreshadows Christ’s ultimate victory over sin and death. Just as Moses needed support to keep his hands raised, Jesus intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father, securing our victory through His sacrifice and ongoing presence in our lives.