Pray and Fight! (Ex 17.8-16)
Israel had barely caught its breath after God's dramatic provision of water from the rock when a new crisis erupted in the wilderness. The nomadic Amalekites swept out of the desert bent on wiping the fledgling nation from the map. What followed – a gritty mêlée in the valley below Rephidim and a prayer-soaked vigil on the hill above – is much more than an obscure military episode. God commanded Moses to “write this for a memorial” because it sketches, in miniature, how every generation of believers must wage spiritual war.