The Attack

This reminds me of an old bible story found in the Old Testament.

It’s a story where God’s people are learning some really valuable lessons. In the wilderness after having been in bondage, God’s people needed to learn some lessons.

They learned that God saves, God delivers, along with His guidance, provision, and that He is always with you. After having learned all those lessons, they needed to learn an exceptionally difficult one.

If you and I learn this one it will certainly help us in our spiritual battles.

The next lesson had to do with prayer. There is an invisible war between the powers of darkness and the children of light. In the course of these hostilities, God’s enemies often attack God’s people, and the only way for us to prevail in this spiritual battle is by persevering in prayer. This lesson for you and I was taught to God’s people in Exodus 17.

Exodus 17

1 Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.

2 Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.”
So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?”
3 And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!”
5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Why would God lead His people from a place where they were being satisfied with manna to a rest stop where the drinking fountain was out of order?

Maybe that’s you, and you’re asking why am I in this place? I was just at conference, I just left church, or I was just in a prayer meeting and now I’m in this  “I don’t understand,” you say.

“I was doing so well—but now there is an attack. I feel tired, dry, exhausted, depressed, and defeated.  Why am I so dry? Is there sin in my life?”

 God led His people to Rephidim in order to do something very important. You see, after they ate of the manna, to make them aware of their need for a fresh drenching of water, God brought them to Rephidim to create in them a thirst for more of Him. Why would He do this? Because He knew what was about to happen…

And what was about to happen, was bigger than just a drinking fountain not working. There was getting ready to be an attack.

When the Israelites were brought out from Egypt, the first enemies they faced were not external but internal. Their struggle was the war within—the battle that is waged in every human heart. The difficulties they encountered at Marah, in the Desert of Sin, and at Massah and Meribah were not caused by their outward circumstances, primarily, but by their own disbelief and discontent. They did not trust God to provide, and as a result they were divided and discouraged. Then suddenly and unexpectedly they were attacked from the outside by an enemy:

Here is the attack, In Exodus 17:8
8 Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

Amalek was the descendant of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. Jacob was the one who, although he made mistakes as we all do, had a heart for God. Esau, on the other hand, was carnal, not interested in spiritual things, one who sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. Amalek, Esau’s grandson, fathered a people who, like their forefather, Esau, were people epitomized by carnality. The Amalekites were a brutal people, intimidated by no one, who sought to wipe out the children of Israel as easily as they did other nations…

I am not sure what caused Amalek to attack, whatever the reason, it was a brutal attack, unprovoked, and without warning.

Moses later told God’s people, “Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God” (Deut. 25:17, 18). Not only was the attack unprovoked—it was targeted against the weak and the helpless, the stragglers at the back of the caravan. Rather than waging an honorable war for just cause, the Amalekites made a sneak attack on defenseless women and children.

Remember this attack was after they were set free from Egypt. It is after their “salvation”.  That is when Amalek struck, after they were set free. Why? To derail them out of the destiny that Go had set before them.

They were headed for the Land of Promise, Amalek  ambushed those in the back of the pack. And that’s still the tactic of the flesh. That is, when a person is no longer front and center, no longer fully engaged like he once was, Amalek is sure to strike. Whenever we say, “I’ve been on this journey a long time. I’ve gone to tons of Bible studies. I’ve been to countless prayer meetings. I’ve had my share of Communion”—that is when the flesh rises up, when the flesh takes control, when Amalek launches an ambush. Front and center, fully engaged is the best place, the safest place, the only place to be.

That’s why I told you the signs, the symptoms, of a spiritual attack. When your flesh begins to grow weary of the things of God. You’re exhausted and starting to lag behind, you start becoming disconnected from the body. Watch out Amalek is trying to snuff you out. That would be a good time to head to the front of the pack, get involved, get connected and don’t stop praying.

Now everyone who comes to faith in Christ is free from the powers of death and Hell. However, the enemies of Christ have not yet surrendered; so on our journey to our destiny we continue to be ambushed by Satan. We are engaged in a constant spiritual struggle to resist temptation and continue the work of Christ and his gospel. The attacks we face are often sudden, but unlike the wars of the Old Testament, they are spiritual, not physical. The Scripture says that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” Ephesians 6:12.

The War is raging all around us. More importantly this war is actually being waged inside of us. It is the fight for the inner man, to drop his guard so that the flesh of the man can be in charge, and fail without a fight.

The Israelites fought their battle with real weapons. The next day they launched a counterattack: “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.’ So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill” (Exod. 17:9, 10). This is the first time Joshua has been mentioned.

Appropriately enough, his name means “the Lord is salvation.” Here he is introduced so matter-of-factly that the Bible seems to assume that we already know who he is.

First Joshua carefully selected Israel’s bravest warriors, and then he went down into the valley to fight. And he fought with real weapons, for the Scripture says, “Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword” (v. 13). It was necessary for Israel to fight; God required the proper use of means. However, the victory did not depend merely on Joshua and his weapons. Rather, it depended on prayer: “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning” (v. 11).

The lifting up of hands speaks of prayer (1 Timothy 2:8). As long as Moses reached out to the Lord on the mountain of intercession, there was victory below in the valley of interaction.

The battle was won not just with the sword in the valley of interaction, but also through prayer on the mountain of intercession.

Moses saw this firsthand as he watched the battle unfold. As Joshua closed in on the enemy, Moses went up the hillside and raised his staff. At first everything went in Israel’s favor. Things were going so well that prayer hardly seemed necessary; so Moses gradually lowered his staff. Then the fortunes of war seemed to turn. The Amalekites were gaining the upper hand. In desperation Moses lifted his staff even higher, appealing to God for victory. But soon his arms grew tired. When he lowered his staff, the same thing happened again. As the battle went back and forth, eventually Moses figured out that what happened down in the valley depended on what he was doing up on the hillside. When his hands were up, Israel was winning; when his hands went down, they started to lose. Their success in battle depended on prayer.

The same principle holds true for our own spiritual warfare. Our spiritual battles against the world, the flesh, and the devil are won and lost through the heavy artillery of prayer. This is why the Apostle Paul ended the Armor of God teaching by commanding Christians to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” Ephesians 6:11-18.

What happens when we do not pray? It is very simple: We start losing the battle, even if we have put on the full armor of God.

My friend if you want to be victorious in the valley, then there must be prayer on the mountain.