Jehovah Nissi

In Exodus 17 we see the Israelites complaining about a lack of water, this comes right after another chapter of them complaining about not having food and then God poured down manna from heaven - literal food raining from the sky. I wonder how many of us have moments like that too where we have seen God’s goodness and then turn around one chapter later and complaining and failing to see God’s goodness in this next season. Or failing to believe he will continue to be faithful even through the hardships and trials.

Exodus 17:1 “Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.”

It says “according to the commandment of the Lord” “there was no water” so they had done what God commanded yet there was no water. So they were in the will of God but in a difficult season.

Exodus 17:2 “Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.” So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?””

They contended with Moses - they did not respond with spiritual thinking or actions. They responded with human ways of thinking. They were at a dis-service in some ways because they did not have the New Testament like we do. We get to read both the Old and New Testament and pull from them. We can learn that they should look at this with spiritual eyes because ....

Ephesians 6:10–13 NKJV

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

We can look at this with a better perspective, I wonder what is going on in our own lives that we could remove simply what we can see and pull back the curtain as Priscilla Shirer says where we can see into the spiritual realm and realize that who or what we are fighting are not always as they seem.

Exodus 17:3 “And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?””

Have you ever asked God something similiar .… why have you brought me to this season of life? Why is it this hard? What is it like this?

Exodus 17:4 “So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!””

It was not Moses fault there was no water; however, he had to lead the people even wiht the pressure of the unfair attacks and he did the right thing turning to God in prayer! One of the most praiseworthy traits of Moses is that he took his difficulties to the Lord. I wonder what it would look like in our lives if we took our difficulties to the Lord.

Exodus 17:5 “And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go.”

Exodus 17:6 “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”

Exodus 17:7 “So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?””

God remembered the way Israel tested Him at Massah and Meribah recalling it in several passages.

Deuteronomy 6:16 ““You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him in Massah.”

Deuteronomy 9:22 ““Also at Taberah and Massah and Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath.”

Deuteronomy 33:8 “And of Levi he said: “Let Your Thummim and Your Urim be with Your holy one, Whom You tested at Massah, And with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah,”

It is a unique question here because the people say is the Lord with us or not? They wondered if God had abandoned them...what causes us to wonder if God has forsaken us?

I don’t know about you guys but sometimes I feel like I know that God is good, I trust him but I don’t feel it. I don’t feel the good that could possibly come out of a situation.

The attitude among the Israelites was their great sin, in this time of difficulty, the children of Israel -directly or indirectly - doubted the loving presence and care of God among them. They had seen his provision before and yet still doubted, even after having overwhelming evidence.

Exodus 17:8 “Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.”

Amalek represented pure evil, represents to be in opposition to God. What is Amalek in our lives?

They attacked the Israelites after the exodus attacking the people who were in the rear - the people who were sick or injured. They attacked the weak, we too are attacked when we are weak. We need community to help us stand firm against the schemes of the enemy.

Exodus 17:9 “And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.””

Exodus 17:10 “So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.”

Aaron was Moses brother and some believe that Hur was his brother-in-law. There is a Jewish tradition that says that Her was the husband of Moses sister, Miriam.

Exodus 17:11 “And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.”

Moses supported the battle in prayer seemingly behind the scenes The fate of Israel in battle depended on Moses intercession because when he prayed Israel prevailed and when he stopped praying Amalek prevailed.

Held up his Hand - describes the Israelite posture of prayer, even as some people today might bow their head of fold their hands. Here the language tells us that he had to have a continued action of prayer. This passage shows us that life or death for Israel depending on the prayers of one man. Moses prayed as we should pray - with passion, believing that life and death - perhaps eternally - depended on prayer.

Exodus 17:12 “But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”

Exodus 17:13 “So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”

Exodus 17:14 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.””

Why was it important that God blot out Amalek completely?

Because we have to get to the root of the problem and take care of that. See sometimes we don’t want to blot out completely our sin because we are too comfortable in it. We don’t want to blot out completely from our life whatever we are tied to that God is telling us to surrender because we like the people that run around in those friend groups or we like the activities that occur. Or we enjoy what ever this thing is that we have been told to remove in our life. If God told you to surrender your addiction it's time to let it go, if you have been told to walk away from someone or something it's time to walk away.

We get so comfortable in our sin, that we really don’t want to be healed, delivered or set free.

This reminds me of the question that Jesus asks, “Do you want to be well?” When Jesus asks this question he is talking to a man who had an infirmity, most believe that he was a paralytic.

In John 5:6 “When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?””

When Jesus asks him Do you want to be made well? That is seemingly an odd question isn’t it but often times we want.the healing/deliverance/freedom but we are not willing to give up the lifestyle that lead to whatever our problem is. We are too comfortable we want the miracle but not the follow up or the walking something out. We might have deep rooted trauma, if we keep treating only the symptoms we are missing the root of the problem. We have to be willing to be uncomfortable to get to the root and blot out the root. If we keep cutting branches but don’t dig up the tree, guess what it is going to keep on growing back.

We have to be willing to blot it out completely - to get rid of it.

I am a survivor or childhood sexual abuse and there have been times that I felt like I have healed completely from that and other times where something pops up and took me by surprise and I had to revisit that traumatic ground to dig up the root of something.

Tyler and I are walking through a divorce and recently I have been struggling with alot of rejection feelings and issues that I am trying to work through, but when I look back at my life I can see evidence of that throughout my whole life. I am having to go back to the root of the problem, so that I can stop just cutting off the branches of that tree. I want that rejection tree ejected from my life completely.

Exodus 17:15 “And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner;”

Exodus 17:16 “for he said, “Because the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.””

What does that look like for us to have the Lord as our Banner?