Word of Encouragement (08/04/2022)
Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. (Ex. 17:11-12)
As I mentioned last Sunday, this was when the Amalekites attacked Israel unprovoked. Moses commanded Joshua to lead the battle while he went up on the top of a hill with Aaron and Hur with the staff of God in his hand (17:9). The account of this battle doesn’t explicitly say that Moses prayed during the battle. But it is easy to see that his posture of holding up his hands symbolized the act of prayer. This incident teaches a few important lessons about prayer.
The first is the effectiveness of prayer: “Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.” How much simpler can the lesson be and the way it is communicated? When Moses prayed, Israel had the upper hand; when Moses couldn’t pray, Amalek did. Of course, this is not to say that our prayers will have this kind of immediate effect. Without taking away from the historicity of this incident, we must recognize that this is also a simplified illustration of prayer’s effectiveness.
What does it mean that prayer is effective? It doesn’t necessarily mean that its answer comes immediately as was the case with Moses’ “prayer”; it is effective as long as its request is granted in a timely fashion. We may want something as soon as possible but God knows not only what we need but also when is the best time for us to have it.
Also, particularly in the case of Christian prayer, prayer can still be viewed as “effective” even when God’s answer is, No. How can that be? Think about why we pray for anything. Is it just to get what we are asking for or to get what it will bring about? For instance, we don’t want money just to have money sitting around; we want it because it can buy what we need (for our sustenance) and desire (for our pleasure, happiness, etc.). There is a truth that is so simple and logical but most of us have a hard time accepting it: if God loves us even to the point of sacrificing His only Son for our salvation, even His “No!” must be out of His love and for our good. Why should it be so hard to accept His “No”? We should be grateful that, by saying “No,” God is delivering us from ourselves and our foolish desires. Even when God says “No!” to our request, we can still get what we really desire—what is truly good for us. In this sense, prayer is always effective.
Have you stopped praying because you think it doesn’t work? I hope you change your mind. There is nothing more effective than prayer. There is no greater loss than not to pray to the almighty and loving God in the name of Jesus Christ, by which we have free access to Him. We may grow weary and even forget what we prayed for, but God will never forget to answer our prayers in His time according to the bountiful riches of His grace!