God Is My Banner

By Sarah Norman

What defines you? This was the question posed at church this week. Our world is constantly asking this question. Who are you? What side are you on? How do you identify? The answers to these questions give us our identity, put us in a tribe, help us find belonging. But most often, they just leave us asking more questions.


I'm sure Moses asked these questions. He spent his life being defined by one group or another, never really fitting in anywhere. He was Egyptian. He was Hebrew. He was a murderer. Then he was the outcast who ran away. He was a shepherd trying to live a quiet life. He had a stutter. He was fearful. There was nothing incredibly remarkable about him. He let the world and his circumstances define him. But then God stepped in.


God chose this man to lead his people out of Egypt. We learn about this man as a great leader, a great man of faith in Hebrews 11 because God stepped into his life. God brought him out of his shepherding life and gave him a new identity as the deliverer of his people.


Moses let the world define who he was for so long. Even after God led them out of Egypt, it seemed his faith was faltering. The people were demanding water and Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” (Exodus 17:4) Moses just saw the amazing miracle that God worked through him of parting the Red Sea, but he was still fearful, still wanting to let those around him define who he was. But instead of caving to the people, instead of choosing to define himself by his fear, he cried out to God and God answered. God told him to go to the rock of Horeb and He would be standing there in front of Him. God would meet him where he needed to be. God already had a plan. He was going before Moses. He would make a way. And Moses was able to give his people the life sustaining water they needed.


After that, the people of Israel were attacked by Amalek. It seems Moses learned his lesson after seeing water come from a rock that he struck with a stick. He trusted that God would protect them. He told Joshua to choose some men to fight and he would stand on top of a hill with the staff of God. This sounds crazy, like Moses was getting senile in his old age. But the lesson Moses had learned was that God did not do things the conventional way, through conventional people. So Moses raised his hands toward God and as he did, the battle went in the Israelites favor. If his hands began to falter, the battle would turn. Aaron and Hur went with Moses and helped him hold his hands up. As Moses' hands were raised, he was reaching out for God's strength, relying on God's strength to fight the battle. And Israel won.


I think that battle was a turning point for Moses. The Israelites won and he built an alter to the Lord, saying The Lord is my Banner, Yahweh Nissi. Banner is not a word we use much, so think of it as The Lord is my Flag, The Lord is my Identity. Moses had spent so long running from who he was suppose to be. He was claiming his identity everywhere except where he needed to. God set him apart from the very beginning with saving him from genocide. He had an identity, it just took him a long time to find it.


Where do you find your identity? Where do you raise your flag? In the incredibly polarized times we live in, this is a loaded question. Is your identity in your job, your family, your church, your political party, your country? Do you draw your worth from how good of a parent you are or how good of a spouse you are? Do you feel validated when your political party has a win? Do you get your worth from that promotion at work, or being recognized for your hard work? None of these things are necessarily wrong, but when that's where we find our identity, we've lost sight of the only thing that's important. God gives us our identity. People, work, our relationships, our political party, eventually they will all let us down, because it's all from this world. When we stop looking at the world for our validation and realize that God is waiting right there for us, just like he was for Moses at Horeb, that is where true satisfaction in this life lies.


Galatians 3:28 tells us “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” There are plenty of things in this world we can let define us. This is not a new problem. There were divisions in the early church as well, many over race and gender, much like we see now. God made us who we are, in his image. He chose our gender, our ethnicity, our genetic makeup for a specific purpose. Those are all good gifts from him. And it's fine to identify with other people who are similar to us. But those gifts are not who we are. Who we are, first and foremost are children of God, born again in Christ. That is where we are to draw our strength for our everyday battles. That's not to say we don't need community. Moses needed Aaron and Hur to hold him up when his physical strength failed. But God is where we need to go to get the strength to walk the life he's given us to live. God is where we look for our worth. God is where we look for our validation. God is where we find our identity, not in this world and the flimsy categories they want to put us in.


Moses finally got it. He saw God for who he was. And then he was able to see himself for who God made him to be. So take your eyes off everything going on, off your failures, the failures of the people around you and look to God. Find your place, your belonging, your identity with Him. Once that is right, he will direct you where he wants your to go.