As long as Moses held up his hand, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 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 17:11-13
When times get tough and we get tired, we all need help holding up our hands.
Moses has now led the Israelites out into the wilderness on their way to the promised land. As they go, they reach one trial after another, but God always provides. Then they reach the Amalekites army, and a battle pursues. This is the first recorded battle as they head into the wilderness and Moses puts Joshua at the helm to lead the warriors. But as Joshua is leading the battle through strength by God, Moses is leading with worship and praise by raising his hands to the heavens in adoration and glory to God. As long as his arms are raised, a battle is being won, but when they begin to fall, defeat begins to come. So, Aaron and Hur come to help Moses’ arms stay raised, and Joshua and the Israelites defeat the Amalekites by Sunset.
There will be days, many days, when we are fighting our battles and our arms get too tired to praise God. We start trying to fight on our own and we feel completely defeated. We don’t know what to do, we only see loss in our future, but that’s when we need others, other believers, to come around us and help us to hold up our arms and praise Him.
When it gets so dark that we cannot see and the weight is so heavy that we have no strength, we need help to encourage us to seek the Lord, to guide us to prayer, to pray for us, to raise the banner with us for the God who fights for us.
Oh yes, there will be days that we no longer want to fight, we would rather just give up in defeat, but that’s when we need to allow others to hold up our hands for us.
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another —and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:24-25
We must find our own Aaron and Hur, and we must be an Aaron or Hur for others as well. We are not alone in this fight, we have other believers around us every day going through their own battles, but when we are there for one another we can do good work, God’s work, together. We can fight together and we can win together, and when we work together, we will Glorify God.
I can promise you, there have been days that I have wanted to give up. There have been days when I’ve turned off my phone, got in my bed, and not wanted to see daylight. But thankfully, in those days, I have others around me to encourage me to seek God, to raise up my arms, to fight the battle He’s put before me. And I fight on. In some, I see the battle won, and in others, I’m still holding up my hands. But if it wasn’t for the people He’s placed around me along the way, I would never have had the strength to keep my arms raised alone.
Look for your people, and keep holding up your arms! The battle is waging, but the war has already been won! It’s not long now ❤️💙
Running 2 Fly 