Message From Pastor Peggy

Scripture Text: Exodus 17:8-16: 

If we put this passage into context we witness: 

the Israelites in slavery in Egypt;

being chased by the Egyptians on their way to freedom;

complaining because they had walked three days in the desert without water;

complaining because they miss the meat and bread of their slavery days.

And then, as if they haven’t already been through enough, the Israelites are met on the wilderness trail by a bunch of marauding Amalekites. Life just couldn’t get any worse than this.

But layered onto that picture is another picture. A picture of God’s providence, God’s grace, God’s provision, God’s salvation: 

-God freed the Israelites from their life of slavery;

-God provided an escape route through the Red Sea; 

-God provided manna that their bellies might be filled;

-God provided water, from a rock, nonetheless, that the people might have their thirst quenched.

And now, with the Amalekites on their heels, we once again witness that same providence, grace, provision, salvation, as this story unfolds.

But in my mind, something in this picture isn’t like the others. But first, let’s take a brief trip through Exodus with God and Moses for a moment. 

Exodus 4:1-5:  God asks Moses to go and free the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Moses is a little, well perhaps a lot, hesitant. He asks God what he should do if he is challenged, if the people do not believe him or question if God had really appeared to him. Moses appears to need affirmation of God’s call on his life, so God asks Moses, “What is that in your hand?” 

“A staff,”  Moses replies. 

The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” 

Moses obeyed and the staff turned into a snake. Moses was to use this as a witness to God’s call and presence in his life. And he did (Exodus 7:8). 

In Exodus 7:19: The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt … and they will turn to blood.””  And they did. Instantly. 

Over and over God employs Moses’s staff as an instrument of His power. Read through the plagues. God instructs Moses, and at other times Aaron, to stretch out his staff and the plague of frogs, gnats, hail, locusts, darkness, results. (Check out: Exodus 7:19-21; 8:5,6; 8:16,17; 9:22-25; 10:12-14; 10:21-22).

At the Red Sea, God commanded Moses to raise his staff and stretch out his hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites could go through the sea. And they did – on dry ground even! (Exodus 14:10-16,21,22,26-28).

When the Israelites complained to Moses that they were thirsty and they had no water, God instructed Moses to take in his hand his staff, the staff with which he had struck the Nile, then strike a rock and God would provide water for the people. And when you think of the huge number of people that would have been there, that was a lot of water to come out of that rock! A rock! Imagine! (Exodus 17:3-6).

All these miracles were at the direction of God. God speaking to Moses, instructing him to stretch out his hand, his staff. Moses responding in obedience. God’s power and miracles displayed. God’s provision realized. Over and over. 

Then the Amalekites show up! But in this account God didn’t speak to Moses, but rather Moses spoke to Joshua. Moses told Joshua to go and fight. Moses told Joshua that he would go and stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in his hands while Joshua was fighting. And he did. And while his hands were raised, Joshua and the Israelites were victorious in battle. When he lowered his hands, the enemy would rise up victorious. 

And so today I ask you to help me understand this text. In every previous example God instructs Moses, to take his staff, to stretch out his hand. And Moses obeys. And in every one of those examples the results were instantaneous. God’s provision realized immediately. The Sea parts, the water rushes from a rock, a snake materializes, gnats, hail, immediate east winds that bring in locusts by morning. But in this case, God doesn’t instruct. Moses makes the plan. And the other main difference, in this case the results aren’t immediate, Moses stands there with his hands raised so long that the blood drains from his fingers, his arms grow weak and heavy and he can’t keep them up. Aaron and Hur come alongside Moses, give him a rock to sit down on, and then hold up his arms for him until sunset. That was not an immediate result. 

So I wonder, what really happened on that hill? Was Moses working on his own accord? Was he running ahead of God and God’s plans, taking upon himself the authority that was God’s to initiate? Or was Moses so trusting of God that he knew in his heart that God would show up? Had he witnessed God’s miracles through his own simple staff so many times that he could trust that in God’s name this staff in his hands and in God’s name would again provide a conduit through which God’s mighty power would flow? Did he have the faith to believe that God, the One who parted the Red Sea, the One who provided the water, the One who had called him and used him in powerful ways, would not abandon him?  I have no idea what was going on with Moses, but what I do know is what you also know, because Scripture affirms it: God showed up! And God’s faithfulness to His people was once again evident. God provided a miracle. God provided the way through. The way forward. 

What’s in your hand? Do you trust that God can use it to orchestrate His good and perfect will? Who are the Amalekites in your life? Do you trust God will protect you? 

Gladys Aylward served as a missionary to China. She gathered up orphans and gave them a home until, (in 1938 or 1940), she was forced to flee when the Japanese invaded Yangcheng where they lived. She would not leave the orphans behind, so with only one assistant she took the 100 orphans and travelled over the mountains toward Free China. It was a gruelling 100 mile journey, let alone to have 100 children in tow. After one sleepless night, she faced the morning with no hope of reaching safety. A 13 year old girl in the group reminded Gladys of their much-loved story of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea.
“But I’m not Moses” Gladys cried in desperation.

“Of course you aren’t,” the girl replied, “But Jehovah is still God.”

On one website sharing Gladys’s story, the story is told of how God miraculously provided an abandoned boat for them when they came to the Yellow River with no easy way to cross. The boat was found floating down the water and they were able to use it to safely cross the river. Another website tells the story differently. After waiting at the river bank for three days, the prayers of Gladys and the children were interrupted by a Chinese officer who secured boats to carry them across the river. Either way – God provided. And, as the faithful young girl pronounced, Jehovah was indeed, “still God.”

So what’s in your hand? What simple everyday object that you’re holding might God use in a miraculous way so others witness His power? Do you believe that God can and will use you in the lives of others to bring about His purpose and will, as he did for Moses? as he did for Gladys? Do you believe that God is still able? 

Perhaps one of the greatest things we can hold in our hand is our Bible. We can use it to share the stories  of the Old Testament. The story of Moses, Hur and Aaron standing on that hill – the three of them silhouetted for the Israelites below to look to, and in seeing, to know that God was fighting with them, for them, carrying them through in victory. 

We can also use the Bible to point to another hill, a hill in the New Testament, a hill upon which another three men were visible. Only this time, it was not Moses in the middle, but Jesus, flanked by two sinners in need of God’s grace. This time, it was not the Amalekites who died that the Israelites might have life. This time it was the man on the hill, the One hanging on the middle cross. The One who died to spare the lives of all the people who were looking to that cross to find and experience love, to receive grace, to find forgiveness. And because Jesus, the One with no sin took on all sin, those who look to the cross, find hope, find life, find peace, find comfort, and are flooded with the joy of salvation. Now that’s a story worth sharing. 

So what’s in your hand? How will God use it? Perhaps the question should be, “Will you allow God to use it?”

What’s in your heart? Will you turn to God in all things that you might know His power in the midst of the most trying of times? Do you trust that He is worthy of your faith? Can you take what’s in your hand, even without God’s specific direction, and use it to His glory?

Will you trust that God is with you? Can you open your spiritual eyes that you might witness God’s providence, grace, provision, salvation, that you might know life in abundance, life eternal?

May it be so! May it be so!

Rev. Peggy Kipfer