Bulldozers and Road Construction

Grumblings and a Threat

Sermon Title: “Lifted Up: God’s Power Through Human Hands”

Text: Exodus 17:1–16 Theme: God exercises His divine authority through human instruments to provide, save, and lead His people.

Introduction: The Bulldozer and Moving Mountains

I had a Tonka Truck set when I was little. I loved this set. They were large and made of metal. My brother and I would spend countless hours playing outside in the dirt building roads and moving mountains so our Matchbox cars could travel. As I have grown, children don’t change much. It never gets old, watching young children )and most grown men) become absolutely infatuated with watching Big Toys. Have you ever watched a bulldozer move a mountain of dirt? It’s not the steel or the engine alone—it’s the operator guiding it. The same is true in the Kingdom of God. God moves mountains, but often through human hands holding ordinary tools. In Exodus 17, we see God's power on display—not from heaven in thunder and fire—but through the hands of a weary man, holding a piece of wood.

I. God’s Power Flows Through Created Means

Text: Exodus 17:5 — “Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile…”

Israel is at Rephidim, thirsty and desperate. But their desperation quickly turns to rebellion. The Hebrew word רִיב (rîḇ) means more than complaint—it’s a legal accusation, a challenge to God’s leadership. Moses fears for his life. Still, God responds in mercy.

It does not make sense to us as the reader. Why wouldn’t God provide the water they needed before arriving? God satisfies Israel’s need with supernatural provision. The people are concerned with a real physical reality and we should not make light of it but while the people were concerned with the temporary relief of a physical need God is concerned with the more critical issue of their faith.

Again and again, God uses our need to build our trust. What feels like delay is His design — stripping away the lesser to give the extraordinary.

But we have to watch for God’s extraordinary provision may come through ordinary means. God doesn’t send water from heaven. Instead, He tells Moses to take that simple shepherd’s staff—just ordinary wood—and strike the rock.

Why a staff? Why not something more impressive?

Because God chooses the weak to shame the strong (1 Cor. 1:27). Just as He used dust to form Adam, or mud to restore a blind man’s sight, here He uses a stick of wood.

This staff had a history:

Turned the Nile to blood (Ex. 7:20)

Parted the Red Sea (Ex. 14:21)

Now, it would strike a rock to give life.

God’s provision often passes through human hands—not because He needs us, but because He chooses to work through us.

Application: What ordinary gift, position, or relationship has God placed in your hand? What is your “staff”? God delights in using humble tools to display heavenly power. God brought Moses with his ordinariness and his ordinary staff to bring opportunity to Israel. How can you give God’s provision to a person’s need with your ordinary life?

II. God Provides Water From the Rock

Text: Exodus 17:6 — “Strike the rock, and water will come out of it…”

The people thirst, but their greater need is faith. God tells Moses, “I will stand before you on the rock.” When Moses strikes it, life flows from lifeless stone.

Now imagine the moment. Moses, standing before a hardened rock and a hardened people, lifts his hand. In that hand is no weapon, no tool of war—just a shepherd’s staff, worn smooth from years in the wilderness. And yet, God says, “Take in your hand the staff… and strike the rock.”

What happens next is no small thing. Moses lifts his hand—the same hand that had once trembled at the burning bush—and in faith, brings the staff down upon the lifeless stone. And from that stone, water gushes forth. Life flows where there was none. Mercy flows where rebellion had risen.

That moment wasn’t about Moses’ strength—it was about his obedient act of faith. He lifted up his hand and struck the rock, not because there was power in his arm, but because there was power in God’s command. That lifted hand became a channel through which God’s presence and provision were revealed.

The staff? Just wood. The rock? Just stone. The hand? Just flesh. But in God’s hands, the ordinary becomes the means of the miraculous.

And here's the truth for us: God still works this way. He still calls us to lift up what little we have in obedience—our voices, our hands, our faith—and when we do, He brings water from rocks. He brings life out of what looks lifeless. He brings grace to the hard places. There is great chorus of a song that slams this home “There’s honey in the rock, water in the stone, manna on the ground, no matter where I go. I don’t need to worry now that I know. There’s honey in the rock.”

The world is in rebellion against God crying out against him for a myriad of reasons. We are not able to understand or see what God is doing, all we are concerned with is our perceived need. The enemy takes our thirst and whispers, ‘God has forgotten you.’ God takes our thirst and says, ‘Trust Me, I will satisfy you.

So when you find yourself in a barren place, when the people around you are tired, angry, or afraid—lift up your hand but not in rebellion— but in obedience. Trust that God will meet your lifted hand with living water.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:4, “The rock was Christ.”

Just as the rock was struck, Christ was struck for us.

Just as water flowed from the rock, the Spirit flows from Christ (John 7:38).

Application: Are you spiritually thirsty? Have your circumstances made you question God’s presence? Christ is the smitten Rock who satisfies your deepest need.

III. God Fights for His People Through Intercession

Text: Exodus 17:11 — “Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed…”

Immediately after the provision, another crisis: Amalek attacks. Joshua leads the battle, but Moses goes to the hill, staff raised in intercession.

When his arms are raised, Israel prevails. When they fall, they falter. But Aaron and Hur come beside him, holding up his arms.

This is not about magic or posture—it’s about dependence and mediated grace. It’s about God working through human intercession.

Application:

Are you weary in battle?

Who’s holding up your arms?

Who are you holding up?

Victory is not found in your strength but in intercessory dependence—a picture of prayer, partnership, and perseverance in community.

Like Moses’ arms, our lives sometimes need the strength of others. Picture three friends carrying a long plank…There is an illustration of three stick people carrying a long wood plank. They come to a hole and the first one grabs the plank and lifts his feet. Once he is on the other side he sets back to doing his thing. Then the middle person comes to the hole and he picks up his feet and the two on the ends take the weight. then the third and you get the point. God gives us the gift of faithful people who can help carry us in our lives.

While studying this passage, I came across an article that emphasized the power of raised hands in praise during conflict. It struck me deeply: when our hands fall—when we stop reaching upward in faith—we begin to lose not just momentum, but resilience, hope, and confidence. But when we fix our eyes on the One who holds all power—the God who brings salvation—then even our ordinary, trembling hands can become instruments of victory.

Think of Moses. He didn’t raise a sword or a banner forged in gold. He raised a shepherd’s staff—a piece of wood, worn from years of wilderness work. And yet, in God's hands, it became the means of miraculous deliverance. God doesn’t ask for grandeur; He asks for obedience. He takes the ordinary—like a staff, like raised hands, like you and me—and works wonders through them.

So when you grow weary in the struggle—when your hands begin to fall—don’t fight alone. Rally the faithful around you. Let them lift your arms, as Aaron and Hur did for Moses. And when your strength returns, raise your hands again—not in desperation, but in praise! Because your raised hands aren't a sign of defeat—they’re a declaration of dependence, a signal that God is fighting for you, and the victory is His.

Proverbs 17:17 NRSV

A friend loves at all times, and kinsfolk are born to share adversity.

Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

IV. God’s Victory Points to the Cross of Christ

Text: Exodus 17:13–15 — “So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek… The Lord is my banner.”

Moses builds an altar and names it Yahweh Nissi—The Lord is my banner. A banner is what you rally around in battle. For Israel, it was not a flag—it was the staff lifted high. For us, it is the Cross lifted high.

Jesus said, “When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32).

Just like the staff was raised, Jesus was raised.

Just as Moses stood between heaven and earth, so does Christ.

And now, He intercedes as our Great High Priest (Heb. 7:25).

Psalm 121 “ I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.”

Application: Lift high the Cross! Not just as a symbol, but as the source of victory in your life. When we rally under Christ’s banner, we walk in assured victory.

Conclusion: The Staff and the Savior

Exodus 17 shows us two scenes—both marked by crisis, both answered by God's power through human hands.

A hand lifted to strike the rock, and living water flows.

A hand lifted over the battlefield, and the tide of war turns.

In both, the power wasn’t in the staff itself, nor in Moses’ strength, nor in Israel’s strategy. The power was in the Spirit of God, working through the faithful obedience of ordinary people.

So it’s no surprise when God speaks again through the prophet Zechariah and says:

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord of hosts. (Zech. 4:6)

God desires the most important things for our salvation and will use it to gain our trust. God shows up and will quench our most visceral thirst.

When we learn to trust God, God uses us to be divine providence for others.

God doesn’t need your might. He doesn’t require your perfection. He looks for a hand lifted in faith, a heart surrendered in obedience, and a life willing to be used—even when all you’re holding is a stick of wood.

Maybe what you have in your hand today doesn’t seem like much.

Maybe you're weary in the battle, or dry in the wilderness. But if God can bring water from rock, and victory from raised arms, then He can work through you.

Let this be your prayer: “Lord, take my hands, lift my heart, and move by Your Spirit.” Because the battle is not won by strength. The victory does not come through force. It comes by His Spirit—working through those who dare to trust Him with the ordinary.

The staff was wood → so was the Cross.

The rock gave water → so does Christ.

The intercessor’s hands were raised → so were Christ’s.

The battle was won by God → so is your salvation.

Exodus 17 reveals a powerful truth: God uses ordinary people and ordinary things to reveal His extraordinary glory.

If God can bring water from a rock and victory from raised arms, He can work through you. Lift your hands—not in rebellion, but in faith—and watch Him move the mountains before you."

Theological Reflection (Condensed):

God mediates power through means → sacramental theology.

God works through human agents → leadership is partnership.

Christ is foreshadowed in both rock and staff → typological Christology.

Intercession is communal → the Church shares this call.

Victory belongs to the Lord → He is our Banner.

Call to Worship (Recap)

Leader: The Lord is faithful in all His words and gracious in all His works. People: We come to give thanks to the God who keeps His covenant…

Closing Call

Trust the Rock. Stand under the Banner. Join the work of intercession.

Benediction

Go now in the strength of the Lord who keeps His promises. Walk in the assurance that His covenant is sure and His mercy never fails… In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

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