By: Rev. J. Loren Russell
“Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.” So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”
Exodus 17:8-13 NKJV
Whenever we are engaged in battle, the objective is to win. In every battle, there are going to be people working with you and those who are working against you. No one fights a battle alone. But the objective remains the same, win!
We find in the book of Genesis the story of Moses as he instructs Joshua to take some men and join the battle against Amalek. He tells him that he was going to go to the top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand. He would take Aaron and Hur with him. As the battle raged, Moses lifted his hands and Joshua and his men were victorious. But when he grew weary and his hands came down, Amalek’s men would prevail. Aaron and Hur could see for themselves that it was going to take more than the military strategy of Joshua and the outstretched hands of Moses to win this battle. Amalek was a formidable foe who took advantage of every weakness he saw.
Arron and Hur stepped in to help where they saw a need. They found a rock for Moses to sit on and each held up one of his hands to hold them steady. They did this all day long. When the sun went down, Amalek and all his army had been completely and utterly defeated by Joshua and his army.
If victory was dependent solely on the strength and the military prowess of Joshua, the battle would have been lost. If victory were based only on the outstretched hands of Moses, the battle would have been lost. It took both the fighting power and courageousness of Joshua, the spiritual power of Moses, plus the dedication and willingness of Aaron and Hur to allow their shoulders to support Moses’ hands in order to defeat the enemy. They were all in the battle together.
We are living through a battle. A global pandemic threatens to take the lives of more than 200,000 Americans. Social injustice and mrder has awakened the world to the atrocities of systemic racism. We are in a battle for our physical and our moral lives. Like Moses, Joshua, Aaron and Hur, it will take all of us to win the battle. No one person can do everything, but everyone can do something. If everyone does what they can with what they have, we will be victorious. Remember, we are in this together.
Be Blessed!
Rev. J. Loren Russell is President/CEO of The JLR Company for Church Financial Strategy & Consulting; an associate minister at both Goodwill and The Greater Universal Baptist Churches in the Bronx; creator & host of “Matters of Faith – The Radio Show” Mondays 8:00 – 10:00 PM on Facebook LIVE and author of Matters of Faith: The Book. eBook available at Smashwords.com.
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