Moses’ staff

Do you remember all those plagues that came upon the land and people of Egypt as Moses confronted Pharoah, again and again and again, demanding that the Hebrew slaves be allowed to leave the country?  And every time Pharoah said “No!”, the Egyptians experienced a horrifying demonstration of God’s power and His Sovereignty over all the might of Pharoah.

Moses’ staff represented God’s authority.  Every time a miracle happened in Egypt, Moses, at God’s instruction, raised his staff and God’s miracle-working power was released. The plagues that came were terrifying: swarms of locusts, the sea turned to blood, animals and people dying, and darkness over the land.  And when Moses raised his staff, as the people fled, the Red Sea parted to allow them to pass through.

And now, in the desert, as the people travel to freedom, they are attacked by the Amalekites in the desert. The people must fight. They are untrained for warfare, and goodness knows what weapons they could produce in the desert, all unprepared.

Here we see God acting once again, on behalf of His special people. Moses instructs Joshua to raise an army and to go out and fight. And – and this is the key element of this battle – while Joshua does his best on the battlefield with his motley troops, Moses takes the staff of God into his hands and holds it aloft throughout the whole day of the fighting. When Moses held that staff up high, the Israelites were winning. If the staff dropped low, they were losing. It was the staff of God, the representation of God’s almighty power, and His authority in the hands of Moses, which settled the battle’s victory.

Isn’t this an amazing picture of prayer? Joshua did his level best with his impromptu army, fighting the Amalekites. But the victory came through the authority of that raised staff in the hand of Moses.

The power of prayer lies in the authority of Holy Spirit behind the words we speak. This passage in Exodus has been such an encouragement to me as I pray. When I am trusting Holy Spirit and knowing His authority behind my praying, things happen. I may feel I can do nothing about changing things around me. I can’t get out there and physically do what needs to be done. But the victory belongs to God when we submit our will to Holy Spirit authority and direction as we pray.