Devotion in war time – 21 October 2023

“Now the LORD said to Moses in Midian, ‘Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.’ So Moses took his wife and his sons and mounted them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the staff of God in his hand” (Exod 4:19-20). I’m not sure the author of the Torah meant to be funny, but when you think about it, this is a very humorous passage. Moses has just been called to deliver his people from the strongest nation on the planet. Now the time has come for Moses to mobilize all his forces for battle. His military is comprised of a Gentile wife and their two sons. His weaponry is comprised of a donkey and a staff. As we say in Hebrew, “Yallah, let’s go to Egypt and kick Pharaoh’s pants!” Although Moses appears to be seriously understaffed, his army was the single greatest military force the world has ever seen. Why? Because “Moses also took the staff of God in his hand.” That staff, just like the burning bush, represent God’s indwelling presence and his omnipotence to do exactly what he promised: to overthrow the Egyptians and bring his people to the Promised Land. How thankful I am that our victory doesn’t depend on the size of our army or the stockpile of our weaponry, “for the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few” (1 Sam 14:6). Let us lean with all our might upon God’s promises, remembering always that the battle and its victory belong to the Lord! “Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s'” (2 Chron 20:15).