Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,

 Yesterday, during my devotional time, I was reading the famous passage in Exodus 17, where Israel defeated Amalek.  It is very interesting  because Moses, Aaron, and Hur were watching the battle from the top of the hill, and the passage said “whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.”  Moses was old and Aaron and Hur helped him with his hands, thus Israel won the battle.  But this is the part that I like the most; in verse 15 we can read “And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner”.  Then I asked myself why Moses called God “My Banner”?  I think I have the answer.  A banner is a symbol, for a country, for an organization, or even for a sports team, saying that under these colors this group of people belongs to this country, organization, or sports team.  When we call the Lord "our Banner", we are saying that we belong to Him.  You know that I am an American citizen, but I am still holding my Ecuadorian citizenship as well, which means I belong to two countries.  When I go to Houston to the Ecuadorian consulate, I can see Ecuador’s flag, and I say I belong to that country; but when I was overseas a few years ago in Ecuador, I was able to celebrate the 4th of July over there, and I said “I belong to America.”  But, thanks be to God, I can say that through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for my sins, I belong to God and His kingdom, and He is my Banner.

The old hymn says:

"This world is not my home I'm just passing through

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue

The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door

And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

O Lord you know I have no friend like you

If Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do?

The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door

And I can't feel at home in this world anymore."

In His service,

Israel