Old Testament - Exodus 17 - April 8, 2022

4/8/2022 – Exodus 17

The Israelites continue to be fed by manna, but as they move forward they, once again, come to a place where there is no water. Instead of thinking back and remembering when they had come upon bitter water, and Moses was able to go to the Lord and learn how to change the bitter water to clean water---instead they only thought of their current problems, and their only action was to murmur once again. Luckily Moses knew that we can certainly take our problems to the Lord. In v 4 “Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? Thy be almost ready to stone me.”  

The Lord’s answer was for Moses to call the people together, and the Lord promised that He would be with Moses.  (v 6) The Lord tells Moses to go to a rocky place, taking his rod with him. He promises Moses: “Behold I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.” (v 6)

The children of Israel were only thinking about their present situation, they were not thinking back to all the situations they had been through, and they were not remembering any of the times that the Lord had helped them through their most difficult situations. That help was not always immediate, but it was certainly what they needed at exactly the time they needed it.  So once again, a serious problem was solved, and once again the Israelites were shown that it was definitely done by the power of God. 

Their next problem came fairly quickly, as the Amalekites had come to battle with them. Moses had Joshua choose men to go forth and fight for all the Israelites. Moses then told them that “on the morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.” (v 9) When Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed in the battle. But after some time, fatigue caused Moses’ arms to fall down. Aaron and Hur were beside Moses. They sat him down on a stone, then stood on each side of him—each man holding Moses’ arms up so that “his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.” (v 12) The Israelites were triumphant. At this time the Lord then commanded to them to “Write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it…” (v 14) 

We need to learn to help ourselves, by taking time to record the sweet comforting times of when the Lord has given to us in answers to our pleading. He DOES answer us. Our part of this is to REMEMBER all the times we have been helped, recording not just bare facts, but all our feelings—for when the Lord sends His help, we feel it in our hearts, and our minds, and our bodies.  The Lord will not always send His help as soon as we cry out to Him, but He will always send it when He knows it will help us the most. These are the things we need to remember, for our remembrances will help us continue to move forward (and upward) each time we seek His help, and hopefully each time we receive His help—we will remember to thank him, and once again record it for our benefit and for the benefit of those who will come after us.

If we work to come closer to the Lord each day, then His help will be there when we need it. And each time this happens, it will bring us closer together. This was true for the Israelites, and it is true for us. We are all on this earth to learn this very thing.



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