Daily Devotions and Daily Manna as Food for the Day

SATURDAY, 14 JANUARY 2023

TEXT: Exodus 17:1-16

1. The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

2. So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?”

3. But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirsty?”

4. Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

5. The LORD answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

6. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

7. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

8. The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

9. 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.”

10. So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill.

11. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.

12. 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 will sunset.

13. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

14. 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.”

15. Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner.

16. 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.”

(New International Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: REMEMBER GOD’S PAST INTERVENTIONS AND PRAY IN FAITH

Even after the great miracles performed during their deliverance from Egypt (the parting of the Red Sea and the provision of manna from angel’s food from heaven), the Israelites were ready to stone Moses because they were thirty!

Often, we behave like the Israelites, forgetting the goodness and miraculous works He did for us in the past and complain and grumble when faced with a problem or need instead of simply laying them before God and wait in quiet trust.

We should repent! The Amalekites opposed God’s people and His move to take them to the Promised Land and they paid dearly for it. Never stand against God’s people and God’s move. If you do, you will be crushed by God, like the Amalekites. The warfare against the Amalekites was both spiritual and physical but the physical war was dependent on the spiritual war for victory.

Just as Aaron and Hur had to help in lifting Moses’ hands up until victory was won by Joshua, there are battles that can never be won through individual intercession. Brethren must simply combine forces before victory can be achieved (see Matthew 18:18-20).

QUESTION: Are you facing a problem which requires joining faith with others in prayer and intercession?

PRAYER: Oh God, help me remember Your past powerful interventions and join faith with others in prayer and intercession for total victory, in Jesus name, Amen.