Fri.’s Devo - God is Our Banner

Read: Jer. 30:1-31:26; 1 Tim. 2:1-15: Ps. 87:1-7: Pr. 24:18-19 The remnant of Israel will be taken to Babylon but Jeremiah prophesys words of hope and a future where they would return to their land and have joy and prosperity. I can just feel the heart of God wanting their punishment to be over so He can bless them. As a parent I know that feeling. I use to hate to ground my sons for something they had done and I couldn’t wait till the time was over. I think that is how God felt. He wanted them to dream of a better day. They were still his chosen people and He was still their God. I look at what is happening around the world right now and all the antisemitism going on and have to believe God is trying to gather his children back to Jerusalem. Israel is their homeland and God is calling them home. Sometimes the only way God can get us to move is by making the circumstances so difficult we want to leave. I think that is what is happening. First Timothy 2:8 tells us to lift up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. So why do we lift up our hands in church during worship? I was reading in Exodus 17 yesterday about Moses. He was in a war against the Amelekites and when he held up his hand Israel prevailed and when his hand dropped, Amelek prevailed. As the day went on the only way Moses could keep his hands up was to have Aaron hold one and Hur the other. They won the battle and Moses built an altar and called it Jehovah-nissi, which means God is our banner. We hold our hands up in worship to God because he is our banner in times of war and he causes our hands to battle in the spirit and win. Lord, thank you that You are our banner. You shelter us, fight for us and bring us victory.