Stupid arms need to ask for help...

I haven't blogged in a while, but the power in what I read yesterday stuck with me so strongly, that I couldn't help but post my thoughts on it. While reading Exodus 17 yesterday in my journey through the Bible in one year, I realized two eye-opening things. First: my arms are weaker than I ever thought, and secondly, I need to ask for help more often. Let me explain...while reading through Exodus 17 verses 8-16 I came upon the story of Amalek's fight against Israel.

This story is only 9 verses long, but the lesson behind it speaks volumes. When Amalek was fighting against Israel, Moses along with Aaron and Hur went up to the top of a hill and every time Moses held up his arms Israel prevailed. When Moses brought his arms down Amalek prevailed. When you look at the text and dig a little deeper you see that Moses raising his arms is representative of his plea to God for Israel's victory. Whenever he lowered his arms it represented his not pleading with God for Israel's victory.

In verse 12 we read, "But Moses' hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set."

When in your walk with God have you been so passionate about an outcome that you raised your hands to Him in a plea/cry for help? Take it a step further now. When raising your hands in appeal for God's power in you, did you let your arms get tired spiritually or physically? Even further now, when did you ask for help because you knew you couldn't do it on your own?

When we look at the Hebrew translation for the word heavy in terms of Moses' arms we see the word: kabed (kaw-bade) which means grievous, hard, too heavy, slow, sore, thick, difficult or stupid.

Let's think this through and apply it to us now. If Moses' arms became too difficult or stupid to hold up then, he was left with no choice but to ask for help from Aaron and Hur. Arms don't have the ability to ask for help when they get tired and heavy, but our brain is the one that decides what needs to be done. What if the next time we seek God with a plea, question, or for help we in turn asked the Aarons and Hurs in our life to help hold up our arms to ensure our strength remained?

Today let us not give in to the hard times when we need help the most, but rather let us be smart enough to realize that we are asking God for help because we already know that we can't do it by ourself, and only with someone else's help will we prevail like Israel did in the fight against Amalek.

By His Strength Alone,

-GWS †