Jehovah Nissi

The Lord is our Banner

As believers, we should credit all of our victories to God. Reading through the Old Testament, we can see God winning the battle for His people when they trusted His plan. Unfortunately, the Israelites were not always on the winning side because they disobeyed or lacked trust in God’s power to win.

If we look at the accounts of the Israelites in the Bible, we can see a similar pattern in our lives. We have trials and hardships in our lives. We don’t have the strength or the power to fight. It all comes from God.

When we look at Exodus 17:8-16, it is the account of how God defeated the Amalekites. It is when Moses had to hold up the staff. As long as he held up the staff the Israelites had the advantage, but if his arms dropped the Israelites lose the advantage. When Moses started to get tired Aaron and Hur held his arms up. Israel was victorious and “Moses built an altar there and named it Yahweh-Nissi (which means “the Lord is my banner”).” Exodus 17:15 NLT

“The staff was a visible symbol which declared to Israel’s warriors and enemies that victory belonged to the Lord. Israel was impotent in their own strength, but under the banner of the Lord, victory was theirs” (Hemphill, 2014)

Like Israel, we can do nothing in our own strength. God is the source for our protection and deliverance.

“When we understand that Jehovah is our Banner, we can come under Him for daily victory” (Hemphill, 2014).

We must trust Him to give us the victory.

Let us take the lessons from the Israelites and trust the Lord for the battles we face in life.


Reference
Hemphill, K (2014) The Names of God Revealing the Character of God