Exodus 17 verses 8 to 16

The Lord wants His people to be those who will experience victory and blessing and fulness of joy in their lives. Every child of God should know a measure of those things in their lives. The trouble is that we do not always live in the victory. Our lives do not always seem to be full of the joy and the blessing that they ought to be. Why is that? Well quite simply it is because of the warfare that is going on within us. When a child of God comes to know the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit enters his life there comes into his life a strange conflict that is hitherto unknown to him. We are told in Galatians 5 :17 that The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other" The Bible indicates that there are two natures within the born again child of God. The New nature has been implanted within us by the Holy Spirit through the seed of the Word of God but the old fleshly nature still remains there until death when we are told that This corruption shall put on incorruption. The old nature is the old fleshly nature. It is the natural nature we were born with. But the new spritual nature is one that has been given from God. One is born of the flesh the other is born of God. Now these two natures are opposed to one another. One is spiritual the other is natural. One is of God,the other is of the flesh. And they war constantly trying to gain prominence in the life of the child of God.
Now, that warfare is pictured and typified for us in many ways in the O.T. Scriptures. For example they are ilustrated in the lives of Abraham's sons Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael represents that which was born of the flesh and Isaac represents that which was born of the spirit. We can see that because Ishmael was born simply after the common order of nature but Isaac was born as a result of a miracle. God supernaturally quickened both Abraham and Sarah when they were past the years of Child bearing. But when Isaac came into the household there was a conflict. We are told that Sarah saw the son of Hagar which she had born unto Abraham mocking. Paul writing in Galatians 4 takes the picture of Isaac and Ishmael and gives us the interpretation. He makes a contrast between Ishmael whom he calls the son of the bondwoman and Isaac the son of the freewoman. Then he says this in Galatians 4 verse 29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuteth him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. That conflict between the flesh and the Spirit is portrayed in the O.T. It is also seen in the two names of Jacob. When the fleshly nature is operating in Jacob the Bible calls him Jacob but when the spiritual nature is operating then he is called Jacob . It is interesting that when Jacob came to die that both names are used. in Exodus 49 verse 33 it says When Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons he gathered up his feet into the bed and yielded up the spirit. But then it goes on in chapter 50 verse 2 and says and the physicians embalmed Israel Jacob died and Israel was embalmed. At death only the new nature will be preserved. And then the same conflict is pictured here with the battle against Amalek. Amalek is a great picture in the Bible of the flesh. Amalek was the offspring of Esau who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. The name Amalek means "Warlike" It is a very appropriate name for that which wars against the soul. In Deteronomy chapter 25 verses 17 and 18 Moses gives us an indication of the charater of Amalek . Look at what we are told And remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way when ye were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary and he feared not God when ye were come forth out of Egypt. Amalek is one who did not fear God. There is that within us which fights against God. Amalek represents the flesh and that which is against God.
We should notice when the Amalekites attacked Israel. Not long after they had come out of Egypt and just after they had been enjoying the blessing of God in the provision of the waters . It was then that Amalek attacked. Verse 8 tells us Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephadim. It seems that Israel was unprepared for the fight at first. It was a surprise attack. How often it is that the old flesh will launch a surprise attack against us. It will rise up when we least expect it. There is going to be a constant fight and a constant battle with the old flesh.
If we are going to live a life of victory then we will have to constantly overcome the Amalek of the flesh that fights against us every time we would enjoy any of the blessings of God. How can we overcome that enemy, that is fighting against us?
Well notice how Israel fought against Amalek in this fight. Notice what we are told in Exodus 17 verse 9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men , and go out , fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. And Moses went up to the top of the hill while Israel fought with the Amalekites and Moses lifted up the rod of God and prayed to God. I want you to see the great part that prayer played in the victory of Israel over the Amalekites of their day and generation. Prayer is an absolutely vital part of the life of victory. Let us see what we can learn about prayer as we look at this passage of Scripture.

I The Prominence of Prayer
In order to defeat this great enemy it was the proposal of God that Moses should take the rod of God to the hill and intercede before God for the battle.
Now just before we deal with that just note the relation that prayer had to the other elements of the fight. Prayer was a part of the whole fight. There were other elements in gaining the victory apart from prayer. There were two things that God told the children of Israel to do. Look at verse 9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand Joshua was to go out and face Amalek in the battle. It would have been much less effective for Moses to pray if Joshua and the children of Israel had not fought down there in the valley. There has to be a balance between acting and praying. There are those who would spend all there time waiting on God to come in Sovereign power. God is Sovereign but God with the wind could have blown the Amalekites away but He chose not to. When Israel had come out of Egypt they had not needed to fight, for the Lord had fought with them. In this case they had to do their own fighting. The prayer of Moses would not have gained anything without the sword of Joshua. But what I want you to see is that all the fighting that the children of Israel was absolutely useless without the praying of Moses. This is the prominence of prayer. Look at verse 11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. The moment Moses stopped praying and let his hands fall down up there on the top of that hill that is the moment that the children of Israel began to loose the battle against the Amalekites. There are those who want to enter into the life of victory with God. They want to overcome the flesh and draw near to God and so they determine to read their Bible more and witness for the Lord more and serve more and do all that they can but they do not pray. And they continue in that determination for some time but then the enthusiasm wains and the determination deminishes and they slip back into their old ways. Why? Because they have never sought the power of the Lord to sustain them in their fight. We think of how the Church of Christ must fire a broadsides against the fleshly and worldly attitudes of this day and generation. We are in a fight against the world and the flesh and the devil. But to all the effort we put into this fight we will find it totally useless unless we are prepared to take it to the Lord in prayer. We see here that as soon as Moses let down his hands in prayer that the victory was halted. Now have we already discovered the reason why we do not live the life of victory as God's people today. I think we might have. It is lack of prayer. Some of you do not pray. How long has it been since you spent time before the Lord in prayer. Some people give God a little acknowledgement in the morning and the evening. We would not despise that but do you really pray? You say but preacher I do pray. What do you pray for? You probably spend some time praying for souls that you know and you will remember the missionaries in different parts of the world and the members of your families and the local Church but I think that I am right in saying that there are very few that ask God to help them to overcome the flesh. There are very few that seek the Lord for victory against the great enemies of this world. There are few that are seeking for the power that is necessary for us to know a life of victory. James said Ye have not because ye ask not. A blunt farmer once said of the prayer of the minister that if any son of his shod ask a favour as tamely as that minister spoke to his Father in heaven I should pay little heed to him
We think of the prominence that was played by prayer in the life of our Lord Jesus. Turn to Mark 1 verse 35 And in the morning rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. The day before, had been a very busy one for the Lord and yet the Saviour had shortened the hours of sleep that he might get up early and give Himself to the more important task of prayer. Turn again to Luke chapter 6 verse 12 where we read And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God The Lord Jesus found it necessary at times to spend a whole night in prayer. The words pray and prayer are used tat least wenty five times in connection with our Lord in the brief record of His life in the four Gospels, and apart from that there are many times where the Lord prays but the word pray is not mentioned. But if the Lord found a need to pray, then how much more do we not need to spend time before God.
Notice the persistence of Moses prayer. We don't know how long the battle lasted but it must have been quite a long time and all that time Moses had to continue in the place of intercession. We think of Elijah who continued in prayer while he sent his servant up the mountain to look for the blessing. John Livingstone spent a night with some likeminded people before the Lord in prayer and in conversation about the things of God. When he preached the next day at the Kirk of Shotts five hundred people were converted or restored to the Lord.
Notice too the pleading of Moses prayer. He lifted up the rod of God. The rod of God was a symbol of the power and might of God. It was that rod that had been used in parting the Red sea and in bringing water out of the rock. It was also the symbol of God's government among the people. And how do we go to the Lord. We go pleading the promises of God depending on the might of God and realising that he cannot deny himself. We go seeking the power and the authority of the Lord We need to hold up the promise of God and we will obtain the victory that we need.

II The Problem in Prayer
But then I want you to see an allusion to the problem in prayer. We are told here that Moses hands grew heavy. Isn't that just so true of what happens. You can see old Moses up there on the mountain with the rod of God in his hand. He can see the effect of his intercession before God but still his hand becomes weary and his hand begins to drop. Then he can see that the battle is going against israel and he hoisted the rod again. Soon his strength began to flag again and no matter how he tried the rod started to fall again.
We can see there that there is a difficulty in prayer. You notice that we don't read that Joshua's hand was weary with wielding the sword but Moses hand was weary with holding the rod. It has been said that the more spiritual the duty, the more apt we are to tire of it. The Lord said that Men ought always to pray and not to faint How apt we are to fainting fits when it comes to the place of prayer.
What was it that caused Moses to faint there as he stood with the rod of God lifted up there on the top of the mountain. Surely it was a n infirmity of the flesh. His arm grew heavy, and though he would have steeled himself as iron and tried to hold that rod aloft his flesh would not allow him to do it. How truly he could say that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Remember the occasion when the Lord Jesus said those words about the spirit being willing and the flesh being weak? It was at Gethesemane. He had told some of the disciples to tarry at a place in the garden while he went away alone to pray. He had told them Tarry ye hear and watch with me But when he came back he found the disciples asleeep. In that hour of Our Saviours agony an when he shed great drops of blood as he wrestled in prayer the disciples had fallen asleep. And if the disciples fell asleep on that occasion how much more do we find ourselves spiritually asleep when we should be interceding. The Lord told them Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation THe Lord did not rebuke them harshly on that occassion. He knew their weakness but he did give them a warning that if they continued in that sleepy condition and did not awake themselves they were exposing themselves to the danger of temptation. And then there was something else they missed if they had have been awake. They would have seen so many things and they might have heard so much more from the Lord Jesus if they had been awake. It is significant that in Luke chapter 9 verse 33 when the Lord had taken some of the disciples onto the mount of transfiguration that it says When they were awake, they saw his glory Imagine being asleep on such an occasion as that. They only saw the Lord's glory and only received the blessing of it when they were awake. We all know that the flesh is weak. We all know how it is when we come to the prayer meeting we suddenly feel tired. We all know that the flesh would rather have us do anything than pray. But what blessings are we missing out by not praying. What power are we not experiencing because our prayers are so half hearted and sleepy and how often is the work of God not progressing because we have let the rod of God that we should be holding up fall.The Bible says Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving

III The Provision for Prayer
But then I want you to notice that there was a provision for prayer here. When the hands of Moses were falling down through his weakness we are told that there were two men there who held up Moses hands in prayer. Look at verse 12 But Moses hands were heavy: and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun When the flesh of Moses weakened him in prayer he was not left to struggle on alone but there were two that helped him. It is interesting to notice who these two that helped him were. Aaron was the head of Israel's priesthood, he was the High Priest and so would speak to us of Our Great High Priest the Lord Jesus Christ. The name Hur is given different meanings but one version is that it meanswhite or fine linen which is the emblem of Divine holiness .When the white fine linen was used in the tabernacle it was used as an emblem of the holiness of God. Perhaps we might think here of the Holy Spirit of God whom God has sent to help us in the place of prayer. And God has provided these two that help us in the place of prayer. One stands at one hand and the other holds up the other hand. One helps me on earth and the other helps me in heaven. What do I mean by that? Well are we not told in Romans 8 verse 26 Likewise the Spirit Himself also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray as we ought: but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered That is on the earthly side. The word "helpeth" there is a very interesting word. It is a word that gives the idea of lifting part of the burden. When Martha was cumbered with much serving she ased the master to speak to Mary and Bid her therefore that she help me The word help there is the same word that is used here. We are pressed down with many burdens but The Holy Spirit comes and takes up part of the burden. It is just the same as Aaron and Hur lifting the arms of Moses, Moses still had to lift his hands but Hur was there on one side steadying his hand and stopping him becoming weary. That is what is meant by the Holy Spirit helping our infirmities and when we feel weak and when we feel weary and prayer becomes a chore let me tell you what to do. Ask God to help you and he will send tohe holy Spirit to steady your arm in prayer.
But then not only is there a help on the earthly side but there is help on the heavenly side. In Hebrews 9 verse 24 we read of Christ our mediator For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands which are figures of the true; but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us That is a picture of Christ receiving our prayers and offering them with the sweet incense of His own perfections to Our Heavenly Father. There is one in heaven who when our prayers are weak will take them and sanctify them and purify them that they may be presented to our Heavenly Father.
But thank God we can say that we have help in prayer today. Why are we so defeated today? Because we do not pray as we ought? Why do we not pray as we ought. Because of our infirmities, because of our carelessness and sin and because of the weakness of the flesh. We let those things defeat us. But what I want you to see is that God has provided resources to overcome that weakness if we would only make use of it. Let us turn to God today and ask for those resources that are provided for us to help our infirmities. But finally let us just look at

IV The Prevalence achieved through prayer
Notice what we are told in verse 13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. The sword there is a picture of the word of God. Once again we see how prayer was not the only thing. The Word of God had to be used too and the flesh has to be fought. Paul said So fight I not as one that beatheth the air; but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection Paul fought the flesh in his own life. There has to be a fighting to win the victory but if the sword had been used on its own and Moses had not been doing his duty on the hill there could have been no victory. The place of prayer is absolutely vital if we are to live in the victory.
But notice this. It says that Joshua discomfitted Amalek but he did not totally defeat him. This was not a battle that could be won in one fell swoop. Later on Amalek came back and the battle had to be fought again. It is interesting to see the tactics Amalek used We are told about it in Deuteronomy 25 verse 17 abd 18. God said to the children of Israel Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, [even] all [that were] feeble behind thee, when thou [wast] faint and weary; and he feared not God. It was the weakest and those who were furtherest from the leader who were taken and surely that teaches us a lesson about the tactics of the enemy. It is those who are wandering far from the Lord who are in danger. But I want you to see this. This is a constant battle. The Word of God says this. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving This is the command of God. If we should see nothing else we should see that it could not be possible to live a life of victory if we are in disobedience to the command of God. Matthew Henry the great commentator said this " When God intends great mercy for his people the first thing He does is to set them praying. Somebody once estimated that the average Christian spends only three minutes a day in prayer. How we need a real burden for prayer. We cannot live the victory life unless we learn to pray.