Exodus 17: Be An Armrest

When pressure hits, it’s amazing how fast we forget what God has already done. Exodus chapter 17 starts with a basic need that turns into a faith crisis: no water at Rephidim. We walk through Israel’s complaints, Moses’ frustration, and the moment God tells him to strike the rock so water gushes out. Along the way, we sit with the question the people ask out loud, the one many of us whisper in hard seasons: “Is the Lord here with us or not?”

Then the story pivots from survival to spiritual warfare as the Amalekites attack. Joshua leads the fight while Moses stands on the hill holding the staff of God, and the battle swings with the rise and fall of Moses’ tired arms. It’s a vivid picture of leadership under strain and what happens when responsibility lasts longer than your strength.

Our big takeaway is simple and practical: be an armrest. Aaron and Hur don’t mock Moses for being human, and they don’t take his assignment away. They make space for him to rest and they hold up his hands until sunset, proving that small, faithful support can change outcomes for an entire community. If you want a Bible study that connects Exodus 17 to real life, relationships, and staying free on the inside, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who feels tired, and leave a review so more people can find the podcast.

Transcript

Welcome And Daily Bible Breakdown

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Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

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Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Exodus chapter 17. And today's title is Be an Armrest. Be an armrest. You know, there's one thing to have a chair, which is great. But man, is there anything better than having one that's got some armrests on it? So you can actually just, you know, rest a little bit. And I know that can seem kind of silly, but there's a story today that I want to encourage us to look at a little bit differently to think about how we can make a difference in small ways that make big impacts in the world around us. And so we're going to get all that in just a moment. But

Quick Ways To Support The Show

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while we are getting all of those things together, get your Bibles, get your coffee, get all the things, but also make sure you take a moment, like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help. And make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job. And you can get all that information at the Biblebreakdown.com. Or recently we have bought just Biblebreakdown.com. So however you find yourself there, that's the place to be. All right. Well, if you've

Exodus Journey Toward Inner Freedom

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been with us over the past several days, we are walking through the book of Exodus. And it is about how God frees his people. And what I love about God is he doesn't just set us free, but then he goes to work and teaches us how to stay free. And we are going to begin to see that over the next few days, how God just, he's all about complete and total freedom in our lives. And if you think about it, it would be really almost more harm than good. It would almost seem cruel and unusual if you were to set someone free and then go, well, good luck, you know, and not actually teach them how to stay free. And that's what we're going to be transitioning into, but they're not there yet. The nation of Israel has been delivered from Egyptian bondage, from Pharaoh, all the plagues, all the things, and God has raised up Moses to lead them to the promised land. But before they get to the promised land, God wants to have an encounter with them himself. And so the first place they are headed to is not Canaan. That's the promised land, which by the way, the reason why they call it the promised land is it was the land that God had promised to Abraham, their ancestor, and that's where they had settled until a famine made them go down to Egypt, but that was always their homeland. They wanted to get back to that land that God had given their ancestors. And so they're on their way back there. But before they can get there, God says, I want to meet you. I want to give you the ideas, the rules, the regulations that are going to set you free on the inside. You've been freed on the outside. Now it's time to be free on the inside. But he's got to get them there first. And so to get them from Egypt to Mount Sinai, where they're going to have an encounter with God, they have to go through some enemies. And they also got to deal with not just enemies as far as physical foes, but enemies such as the elements. You know, we sometimes when we uh decide that we are going to move forward with God, we think that we're going to have one enemy when really they're all over the place. There's so many things that want to conspire against us to keep us from being free, but that's okay, because all we need is Jesus, and we realize that's all we need. So let's read this together and just watch how their journey continues as they are on their way to Mount Sinai. Chapter 17,

No Water At Rephidim

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verse 1 says this. At the Lord's command, the whole community of Israel left the wilderness of sin and moved from place to place. Eventually they camped at Raphadim, but there was no water there for the people to drink. So once more the people complained against Moses. Give us water to drink, they demanded. Quiet, Moses replied. Why are you complaining against me? And why are you testing the Lord? But tormented by thirst they continued to argue with Moses. Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst? Then Moses cried out to the Lord, What should I do with these people? They are ready to stone me. And the Lord said to Moses, Walk out in front of the people, take your staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile, and call some of the elders of Israel to join you. I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and the water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink. So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on. Moses named that place Masa, which means test, and Mirabah, which means arguing, because the people of Israel argued with Moses and tested the Lord by saying, Is the Lord here with us or not?

Amalek Attacks And Joshua Fights

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While the people of Israel were still at Rephadim, the warriors of Amalek attacked them. Moses commanded Joshua, choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill, holding the staff of God in my hand. So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and her climbed to the top of the nearby hill. As long as Moses held the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. Moses' arms soon became so tired that he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on, and then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle. After the victory, the Lord instructed Moses, write down on a scroll as a permanent reminder, and read it aloud to Joshua, I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Moses built an altar there and named it Yahweh Nisi, which means the Lord is my banner. And he said, You have raised their fist against the they have raised their fists against the Lord's throne, and now the Lord will be at war with Amalek generation after generation. Wow.

God Has No Rivals

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So you can see that there's all these different things that are conspiring against the nation of Israel. However, God is continuing to move. So first of all, they ran out of water, and instead of trusting God, now they're having to deal with bad attitudes. And then when God works a miracle, then they've got villains they got to deal with. So there's all these things. You got the world, the flesh, and the devil always coming against you, trying to stop you from getting to where God wants you to be. But the amazing thing is, is God has many enemies, but he has no rivals. And if God wants to get you somewhere, you're going to get there. And he's going to use us and give us the opportunity and the dignity of being part of the freedom journey. And that's one of the things I love about this, and I want to kind of give us to think about as we get ready to end our time together. And that is, it was an amazing moment that Moses was able to go over on the hill hill country hillside there, where as the armies of Israel, you got to think these people just six months before, less than that, were slaves. Now they are fighting to keep their freedom and they are going to fight, but they don't know how. Moses, why didn't you do more push-ups, man? Get your arms a little stronger. Moses, this is your fault. Instead of that, instead of sitting there and pointing out Moses' weaknesses, they just said, yo, he's human. He has weaknesses like the rest of us. I probably couldn't hold up that long either. I know it's a it's a staff, it doesn't weigh but maybe five pounds, but try holding it up for hours, right? And so instead of just pointing to Moses' weaknesses, what did what did Aaron and her do? Aaron and her found a place for Moses to rest, and they didn't take his burden from him, but he did help him to carry it. And here's the thing that I want us to think about.

Be An Armrest For Someone

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So many times we want to put ourselves in the position of Moses, and we want to say, you know what, I just wish people would understand. I'm doing the best I can. And I know it doesn't look like it's really heavy to you, but you try holding it for a long time. You know, it's the same thing of somebody going, man, what you don't have, all you've got are first world problems. You get upset because you don't get off work in time, you get upset because your kids are a little rowdy, you get upset because you don't have the perfect this or perfect that. Man, what is wrong with you? And and what many times what we want to do is we want people to say, to understand, well, yeah, you're right. A few of these things are not a problem, and I'm thankful for them. But when you start stacking them on top of each other, and then you add years of faithfulness, anything can get heavy after a while. And so we we want people to come up and understand, and instead of pointing out our weaknesses, help us out in the situation. But here's what I want to encourage you to do. What if you didn't think about yourself in the point of view of Moses and instead you thought of yourself from the point of view of Aaron and her? Who is it in your life that you're frustrated with? Who is it in your life that you just wish would just get better? They just need to fix everything. They they just complain too much, they're just too ill, they're just too this, they're too that. You know, there was a a book I read one time that said, No one truly knows the pain of another. It truly is not possible to walk in somebody else's shoes. Only Jesus can truly do that. And and that's because even if you've been through similar situations, you're a different person. And so there's truly no way to really understand what somebody else is going through. We can get close, but we can't understand. And so just like we hope somebody will give us the benefit of the doubt, someone will come along and make our burden a little bit lighter. What if we were to say, Who is that person that they just get on my nerves? I they just need to get better. And instead, what if we said, What if I came alongside that person and I made their burden a little bit lighter? Now notice they didn't take Moses' burden from him. That was his to carry. And that's one of the things that can get that can get difficult, is that we can forget that we're a whole person, they're a whole person, and there's got to be a little bit of a separation there. So we're not, I'm not advocating for you to take someone's burden off of them. But how can you make it lighter for a season? Because Moses wasn't gonna have to hold this up forever. Make it lighter for a season so they can catch their breath. I don't know. But I tell you, it truly is more blessed to give than receive. And if you and I were to be Moses, or excuse me, Aaron and her and find a Moses, I bet it'll bless our lives more than we

Prayer For Strength And Compassion

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realize. Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, God, for the errands and the hers that you've put in our life. The people, Lord, that you have put around us that have held our hands up. And sometimes we didn't even know they were there. They did it quietly and in the background. I'm thankful for those people. I pray, Lord, that you will help us to be that for somebody else. Help us to stand in the gap for somebody, to make their load a little bit lighter, so Lord, that they can carry on doing what you've called them to do. Give us the opportunity today, Lord, to cut someone's sorrow in half and double their joy. In Jesus' name we pray.

Final Promise And Tomorrow Preview

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Amen. And what God's Word says in Exodus 6, verse 6, he says, I will free you from your oppression and I will rescue you from slavery. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Exodus chapter 18.