Exodus 17:12 Holding Others Up

“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 until sunset.” Exodus 17:12

As the Israelites were traveling through the wilderness, the Amalekites came and attacked them. Moses went up onto a hilltop and raised his staff up to God, while Joshua took the men and began to fight the Amalekites. As long as Moses’ hands were raised, the Israelites were winning, when his hands dropped they would start to lose. Aaron and Hur came by his side and made it able for him to sit down, and they also held his hands up all day long. In the end the Israelites won the battle.

Aaron and Hur could have easily stayed away from Moses, saying that he is the leader and it is his problem. Or they could have criticized the way Moses was going about trying to win the battle. Or they could have sat back and just prayed for God to give Moses the needed strength.

Many Christians do these kinds of actions when a fellow believer is in the battle for his life. They leave him alone, say that he is doing it all wrong, and just pray that God gives him strength. The only one that is somewhat acceptable is the praying to God, but even that leaves things undone that God desires.

James said true love, is physically doing something for a person. Doing these things are not true love. One is ignoring, one is kicking them while they are down, and the last is just words.

What can you do to help hold that fellow believer up?

Aaron and Hur held his hands up. That would not have been easy for them either to do this all day until night. Who held their arms up? It was a joint effort. Together they were strong. A bond of three is not easily broken.

Seek God in who you can hold up today. See who you can help to win a battle for their life. Do some action, not just words.

I pray today that God will show you ways to help others out; that you will help others out with more than words; that God will guide you in not hurting others who are in battle; and that God will give you and the one in battle strength to win the battle.