Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 17 before reading the devotional below.
Pay close attention to this story, because you will need to remember it later. Once again, the people are wandering the desert with no water and it’s making them more than cranky. Moses has had it as well, and he gives it right back to the people. Meanwhile, God seems to wait to act until Moses comes to him. As much as we can sit here and judge Moses for waiting so long to pray, we know we all do the same thing on a daily basis. God tells Moses to strike a rock with his staff and sure enough, water comes gushing out. But we will see later that paying attention to all the directions will matter down the road…
The land that the Israelites are passing through, and later on the land that they intend to occupy, is already taken by other people. The Amalekites are one such group, and they attack the Israelites while they are camped at Rephidim. This story is a weird one: as long as Moses keeps his arms raised, the Israelites are winning the battle. When he lowers his arms they start to lose. You might be wondering why God would work that way. (Me too). But what we do know is that Moses couldn’t keep his arms up for very long.
Here’s your freedom for today: you need help to accomplish God’s purposes for you. Moses could not hold his arms up, yet he needed to hold them up in order for the Israelites to have victory. Was God teaching Moses a leadership lesson here? Maybe God wanted to protect Moses from pride by showing him that he was going to need to rely on others even after he was clearly a proven leader. Even if you are trying to do what God wants you to do — and even if what he wants makes absolutely no sense to you — you cannot do it alone. Who do you have in your life that can hold your arms up when you have nothing left to give?