In order to
be successful in most areas of life, whether playing a game, paying your taxes,
driving down the street or baking a cake, it is necessary know the rules and
how things work.
That basic principle
is clearly on display in the book of Exodus.
As God prepares to lead his people out of their slavery in Egypt, he
makes sure that they have the “baseline knowledge” that they need. In fact, he communicates it to them in two
ways: First he shows them and then he
tells them. The “showing” part is one of
my favourite stories.
“The
Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites… 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” (Exodus 17:8-13).
I like this
story because there is no ambiguity, or doubt as to why the Israelites won this
battle. Was it because they were
stronger? No! Were they better strategists? No!
Did they have better weapons?
No! Why did they win? They won because they trusted God and he gave
them the victory. Every time Moses
stopped praying, they began to lose.
When he continues to pray, they win.
It is as simple as that.
Then, just
in case they did not make the connection, God says to them: “You yourselves have seen what I did to
Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings” (Exodus 19:4). He wanted them to remember that all these
good things happened simply because he had “carried them” and looked after
them.
So the
question becomes: Do you believe in a
God like that? Do you believe that God
knows you and is actively working in your life?
You see, it
is easy to believe in “some God somewhere”.
It is another thing to say, “God is with me”.
Faith will
only become important and start to mean something in my life when I come to
believe that God is involved in my life right now.
That one
belief can start to change everything.
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)
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