Week 6 Day 4 Raise Your Hands

Exodus 17:8-18 (as in all of chapter 18)

Well, the people face their first big hurdle. The Amalekites came on over to fight the Israelites. Joshua (hmmm, that name sounds familiar :) led the Israelites in the battle.

Moses had to have his arms raised. As long as they were raised, walking stick in hand, the Israelites would "win". However, the times he became weary and let his arms fall, the Amalekites took the lead. Soon, Aaron and Hur were there with a plan. Moses had a nice comfy rock to sit upon, and Aaron and Hur helped hold Moses' arms up until victory was declared.

There are so many correlations to life here. And if it weren't midnight, I might try to share some (feel free to share your own). But to me, one of the biggest ones is that we are not fighting alone. We live in an evil world. We look to our God to help us. But He doesn't expect us to do it alone. We have help. We have support. We have someone holding us up. Yes, family and friends do that, but even more, that is the role of the Holy Spirit. He holds our hands up when we think we are too tired to carry on. He sits us down on that comfy rock when our legs are weary. And HE will ultimately win the battle.

The next chapter, 18, was a neat one. Moses meets up with Jethro, his father in law. They obviously have a close relationship. They embraced. They sat and chatted. And Moses got to share everything that had been going on. And Jethro was obviously moved by how God had moved in such a powerful way in Egypt and through Moses.

One part I really like that I had forgotten about was that Moses spent all day dealing with issues of the Israelites...disagreements that are sure to come about with that many people. The people lined up as Moses dealt with each one.

And he did so without complaining. Or at least without any records of complaints.

But this is the part I liked.

Jethro, his father in law, told Moses to delegate. Moses did NOT need to be the one and only one doing this. He could choose capable men to handle the simple arguments, while taking on only the bigger ones.

I love to see business principles at work this many years ago.

Just shows me that we may think we are doing something new.

But really, these ideas have been around for years. (And have withstood the tests of time...)

Reba
Not sure on tomorrow's reading...it is too dark for me to see. I guess it will be a surprise! :)