Our Battle Of Rephidim

Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

Jeremiah 33:3 nasb

Sometimes our battle against depression, whether new or chronic, leaves us worn out. We want to continue in the fight, but no matter what we do, we cannot catch our breath or get relief.

In Exodus 17, the same thing happened to Moses and the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses had just led the Israelites out of Egypt, across the Red Sea. God fought for them and he was the only reason the Egyptians were destroyed. But as the Amalekites approached, God told the Israelites to take up their swords and fight! This did not mean that God stopped fighting for them. In his sovereignty, God might have wanted to teach the Israelites that he would fight through them. The strategy? When Moses prayed with his hands lifted high holding the staff used to part the Red Sea, the Israelites were winning. But Moses became tired and his arms became heavy. When he lowered his arms to rest, the military advantage changed in favor of the Amalekites. When that happened, two of Moses’s family members held up his hands for support in prayer.

Have you ever felt like Moses at the battle of Rephidim? There are times when God calls us to fight—and uses other people to support us in the fight. When we are overtaken by the symptoms of depression, we need to rely on God’s wisdom that prompts us to call upon our closest friends and family to join us in prayer and to join us in treatment as we march on to conquer our ailments. Those folks will speak for us when we cannot speak. They will help us see when we cannot see clearly. They will hold us up when we are ready to collapse.

God has a plan for our deliverance before our problems ever appear. He is not surprised when trouble comes. He is not in Heaven wringing His hands trying to figure out what to do. He’s in control. Our part is to focus on Him and His mighty power, worshipping Him and praising Him for the manifestation of His solution and listening for a word of direction from Him.

Joyce Meyer

There are no words to express the abyss between isolation and having one ally. It may be conceded to the mathematician that four is twice two. But two is not twice one; two is two thousand times one.

G. K. Chesterton

For Further Reflection

Exodus 17; James 1:5; Romans 8:31

Today’s Prayer

Lord, I know all my help comes from you. During this battle, I feel so weary and worn. But help me to remember that you will be my strength, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Remind me that the battle belongs to you. Amen