Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.” (Exodus 17:14, NIV)

What was to be remembered?

It was not only God’s statement that He would blot out these enemies who had attacked Israel at a most vulnerable time. What led to their defeat—particularly the human side of the equation—is most important for us to grasp.

If God had handed Israel this victory without their keen participation—at least that of their leaders—what would that have accomplished? Certainly, it would have perpetuated Israel, rather than seeing them taken captive or obliterated. But mere existence and continuity are not what God is after, nor is there a future of any substance for us if we are content to settle for that.

God would be glorified—manifested as Israel’s almighty Savior—in this military victory. But He required those He was saving to act and persist as an indispensable link in the chain of their salvation.

As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. (Exodus 17:11, NIV)

This was the reality, and no excuses were possible. Israel’s freedom—and likely their continued existence—depended on Moses keeping his hands aloft, stretched out to God, who then fought on Israel’s behalf against their foes. And who could overcome inevitably flagging flesh and blood to always keep his hands stretched towards heaven? Those who bore the burden with Moses understood; they saw what happened on the field when Moses flagged. They quickly found ways to persevere with him and collectively maintain strength and fixation on the matter crucially at hand.

When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. (Exodus 17:12-13, NIV)

What one person could not prevail to do, they could do—and did do—together. God and His people were thus united on the field.

Why does God require the participation, the perseverance, the prayers of those He saves, to save them? The question is closely related to perhaps the most-asked question of all: Why does God allow evil, if He’s almighty and capable of quashing it? And, stripped of its politics, it mirrors America’s long bolstering and ultimate withdrawal of support for Afghan freedom. If a person, or a people, will not demonstrate their decision to be free and persevere in it—appropriating freely-available and effective help—why should God act to pretend they are free by sweeping away their enemies? Their character will not have been proven or even refined; they will be lulled into a false security; they will not understand the terms of life itself.

No excuses are possible. “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12b-13, NIV)

Men always ought to pray and not lose heart. (Luke 18:1, NKJV)