Exodus 17, Luke 14

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - Brandon Hatmaker (Exodus 17, Luke 14)

"Hands up Moses. Hands out Jesus."

(Exodus 17)

“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.” Exodus 17:11-12

I’ve always thought this was a fascinating scripture. It’s amazing to see Moses’ faithfulness in recognizing his role in victory. But it’s not just about Moses. It’s about God. Moses did not have the ability to hold his hands up the entire day. While they certainly helped, Aaron and Hur couldn’t even do it by themselves… they had to take a stone and put it under him so he could rest. But the core of this scripture is not necessarily about what any of them did, this scripture is about God being Glorified and exalted. It's about recognizing God as provider and protector. It’s about our attention and focus being on Him instead of the fight below us. It’s about God’s gift of provision of those around us to support during a time of distraction and struggle.

But the beginning and the end is God. Not Moses. Not me.

I need to remember this. Too easily I make things about me. If God is the God of the universe, who spoke and it was, isn’t His agenda always going to be bigger than ours? Isn’t His work in and around us going to bring more Glory to Him than it will bring us? If so, we should take heed to this story in scripture. We should recognize our nature to think more about what Moses was doing than to think about what God was doing. That might allow us to see the bigger picture, probably not all of it, but enough of it to take the attention off ourselves.

(Luke 14)

“One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away.” –Luke 14:1-4

Here it is again. I just can’t seem to get away from this theme. Not only were the Pharisee’s doing nothing for this man who was suffering, they wouldn’t even answer Jesus when he asked about him. But Jesus did not hesitate. He healed him.

Why did He do that? Because Jesus had compassion for those who were in need. He saw the outcast, poor, the sick, the wounded, and He took time to love them. Their love language was healing. And Jesus spoke it loudly.