Hey y'all. Welcome back to a year in the Bible with Daily Grace. It's Shelby and Paul here,

and today we're talking through Exodus 17 through 19. These chapters are in between. We talked about

the Exodus in yesterday's reading, and we have the Giving of the Ten Commandments in

tomorrow's reading. So what's happening in these three chapters that's important, kind of

in between these two significant events, Paul? Yeah, there's a lot going on. So I will kind of focus

on a few key things. So first, I want to talk about the Amalekites, right? So we have this first battle that

Israel comes across, right? And we have this really cool image of how Moses is up on this hill,

right? And he has his staff, and it says when he raises his staff, they triumph, they win,

and when he lowers his staff, they start to lose. So he has, you know, two people come and help him, keep his arms up, right?

But, you know, I really think this story is not primarily about people coming to support Moses,

though that is a really cool image, right?

Rather, I think it says something about the relationship between human agency, our will, and God's

sovereignty, right?

So I think it's interesting that, you know, Joshua and his men, they have to take up arms

and go to battle, right?

But God is really the one, ultimately, that makes them win, win right and I think the same is true for us

in our faith as we're you know maturing trying to become more like Christ right there is a part for

us to play to put forth effort in our growth and in our maturing but ultimately God is really

the one that helps us look more like Christ and I think, you know, it's a good question to just ask yourself, you know, do I tend to think that my efforts don't matter?

Or do I tend to think that everything is up to me?

And I think we kind of oscillate between those two things sometimes depending on the season.

But if you just ask yourself that and really answer honestly, then you can lean into whichever

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