Just when you thought...
Everything's looking a bit better. Maybe it's not the situation that has changed, but me. I am still struggling, but I am seeing that God has not abandoned me, but is walking alongside me, even if, at times, doubt still plagues me. I see God's provision in the little things. I am trying--and sometimes I get it!--to see Him in everything. The children of Israel had food, water, shelter and God's guidance in a very inhospitable place. Cloud by day. Fire by night. Manna. Quail. But, forgive me, Lord: I do have one thing utterly in common with those desert wanderers: I grumble. A lot.
I am so fixated on the immediate need before me, that I lose sight of the bigger picture, which is You are in the desert with me, every step of the way. Forgive me.
Then BOOM! Amalekites.
Wow. Really God?
The Amalekites were tribal people "living in the Negev and in the Sinai peninsula." [NIV Study Bible, 26]
So, we have the harsh conditions of the desert, with all of its natural challenges, and then we have (wait for it) human challenges! (Who would have thought that anyone could live out here?)
Give me a lack of water any day.
I can slake my thirst but people have a nasty habit of coming at us relentlessly, day after day. Getting rid of thirst is far and away easier than getting along with those who move, think and act contrary to what we understand to be the ways of God, as we dig through His Word, engage in prayer and seek to walk in His Spirit.
Yet, if God is the God of desert challenges, isn't He the God of difficult situations brought on by people in our lives?
These Amalekites originally attacked Israel as they were leaving Egypt. God takes a dim view of His children's enemies. In fact, because these people attacked the vulnerable Israelites, God has harsh words for them, which we will soon see.
We see God providing water from a rock that Moses struck with the very staff he used at the Nile, and water came forth. Paul equates that with Christ being struck for us and how He is the ultimate source of living water:
They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. (1 Cor. 10:3-4)
Christ equates Himself with that water when He talks to the woman at the well:
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
"Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:10-14)
Christ was struck and out of Him flows life-giving water that refreshes, revives and renews us.
Out of the violence of the cross, Christ heals us, for by His stripes, we are healed.
But violence in the world's economy is despised by God, for it violates His image in us and glorifies the flesh, which is contrary to His ways. That's why the Amalekites get into serious trouble with God. God has no tolerance for abuse of the poor, the weak, the oppressed and the vulnerable. The children of Israel, while they stand on the shore watching Pharaoh's army drown, are people who have only known the violence of the whip, and thus, are vulnerable.
Now the Amalekites come in full force, wanting nothing more than to rob, kill and steal from God's children.
Sound familiar?
Jesus says of those who act contrary and rebelliously to His Father:
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. (John 10:10)
So, here we are. We've been wandering through the desert with the children of Israel, those newly minted freedmen (and women! and children!) who have witnessed God's provision and now, uh-oh, here comes these thieves, attacking the Israelites' at their camp:
The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”
So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. (Ex. 17:8-13)
Wait a minute! Did you catch that? Joshua is given orders to fight the Amalekites. Joshua! His means, "The LORD saves."
Sound familiar?
Joshua overcomes Israel's enemies with a sword!
Sound familiar?
Joshua speaks of Christ in our lives--He overcomes our enemies with His sword. Look how John in the Book of Revelation describes the risen and glorified Jesus:
And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance. (Rev. 1:13-16)
Wow. Joshua fighting Israel's enemies is absolutely analogous to Jesus fighting ours.
What are our Amalekites?
Sin. Despair. Depression. Fatigue. The flesh. Defeat. Loneliness. Anger. Rejection. (Just to name a few.)
These armies are powerful in our lives and attack us at our most vulnerable moments.
But I propose that the Amalekites are more than analogous to sin and its damaging effects in our lives. It's Satan himself. He is the one who steals our confidence in Christ away; the one who literally wants to kill us, to punish God, and who wants to destroy us, any way he can, by using our sin nature and our vulnerability to his whisperings against God.
But look at what God says about the Amalekites:
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven." (Ex. 17:14)
Wow. God has a plan for the enemy of our souls. His fate?
Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Rev. 20:10)
Blotted out from any involvement in His children's future, God wants us to remember His ultimate provision: the conquering of sin and death, through His Son.
Then look what God has Moses do:
Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner. He said, “Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the Lord, the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation. (Ex. 17:15-16)
Our enemy is God's enemy, and He will not allow Satan to triumph, no matter how large Satan's evil is and how devastating his involvement with humanity is.
An affront to us is an affront to God. He remembers us and doesn't want us to forget His constant provision. God wants Moses to record the battle on a scroll so Joshua can read it (Ex. 17:14) His people will remember it, because as their future leader in taking on the armies of Canaan, he will remind them of the Amalekites' defeat.
God has given us His Word, so we can read it. We must remember it, because as our Leader takes on the prince of this world, we are reminded of his future defeat.
One last thought: Just like Moses raising his arms to ensure the success of Joshua and then growing tired, we may tired too of raising our hands to heaven and beseeching God for a victory.
But look at what Moses rested his arms on: stones!
Sound familiar?
Christ is not just a stone, but the Cornerstone upon which we build our lives.
He is our Rock upon whom we rest.
He is in the field fighting. He fought for our soul and now fights the one who would destroy it.
How our prayers influence God may not really matter in the long run--we need to be present at the battle, lifting up holy hands and asking God for victory.
And resting upon the Rock.
