Surrender or Victory

When someone puts both hands in the air, one of the two things is being communicated-either surrender or victory. In the western days, people would say "stick um up" and the person would stick both hands in the air signifying their surrender. Or in the sporting events, when someone makes a game winning goal or shot or defeats and undefeated team or simply wins, typically people will celebrate victory with hands raised high above their heads.

There is a pretty cool story in the book of Exodus, chapter 17, where Moses and the Israelites encounter their first enemy, the Amalekites, since having been set free from Egypt. Moses sends Joshua with some other men to fight the Amalekites while he(Moses), Aaron, and Hur made their way to the top of the mountain nearest the battle. The 3 men noticed that when Moses' hands were raised in the air the Israelites were winning the fight but as soon as Moses let his hands down the Amalekites would take over. So, Aaron and Hur held up the hands of Moses until victory was sealed. How cool!?!?!

There are quite a few spiritual truths I learned from this story so I'm not quite sure where to start. I guess the first thing I noticed was that as Moses raised and lowered his hands, the outcome of the battle was affected. Now, I'm not saying that when we get into fights physically we should throw our hands in the air, but rather as we wrestle again the principalities of darkness we should raise our hands toward our Father in Heaven. Again, I don't mean physically
but rather spiritually, the posture of our hearts. Our hands/hearts should be raised to Heaven in surrender to God to bring VICTORY in our lives! Does that make sense?? The minute we let our hands down from worship and surrender to God, the enemy gains advantage. That was the second truth I learned, that we raise our hands in surrender and worship to God believing He will bring victory. The third spiritual truth I learned was the importance of having people around you to help you hold your hands up. After a while, Aaron and Hur needed to step in if they wanted to see Israel become victorious. I think it is equally as important to be available to those who need our help in sustaining their surrender and worship to God. However, we must notice that Moses held his own as long as he could. It wasn't until he could no longer hold his hands up that Aaron and Hur stepped in. But when our fellow comrades can no longer hold their hands up, I believe it is crucial that we step in and help each other out as much as possible!