The power of a helping hand

When the Israelites were at Rephidim, they were attacked by the Amalekites.  ⁹ So Moses told Joshua, “Have some men ready to attack the Amalekites tomorrow. I will stand on a hilltop, holding this walking stick that has the power of God.”

¹⁰ Joshua led the attack as Moses had commanded, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur stood on the hilltop. ¹¹ The Israelites out-fought the Amalekites as long as Moses held up his arms, but they started losing whenever he had to lower them. ¹² Finally, Moses was so tired that Aaron and Hur got a rock for him to sit on. Then they stood beside him and supported his arms in the same position until sunset. ¹³ That’s how Joshua defeated the Amalekites. Exodus 17:8-14 CEV

Several years ago, when I taught Children's Church, we studied this  passage. As a learning aid, I gave the class a dare/challenge. Whoever could stand with their arms raised the longest through the lesson would receive a prize.  I didn't think they would last long  and I was right.  Just a few moments into the lesson, the girls had all given up and were cheering the boys on.  But each of  the boys  was determined to be the last man standing, in spite of a lot of moaning and groaning.  I finally had to tell the remaining boys to sit down and gave them each a prize.

They got the message of the lesson though. There was no way Moses could have kept his
hands raised all day to help the Israelites win the battle. He needed help! He needed friends to find him a rock to sit down on and then he needed them to hold his arms up so the Israelites would win the battle.

The Israelites had no fighting skills at this point, being newly freed from slavery. So they needed to see Moses' staff to trigger their faith, reminding them of God's power in defeating their Egyptian enemies at the Red Sea. If their leader got tired and gave in, lowering the staff, they lost heart and gave in too, yielding to the Amalekites. It took the whole nation working together to win this battle.

Let's make this personal.  When you are in the midst of a recovery process, whether it's from abuse, grief, or some other hurtful circumstance,  how long can you  endure by yourself in the battle for wholeness? You might be able to stand for awhile like my macho church boys, but without the helping hands of others you will eventually succumb to your weakness and suffer defeat.

Asking for help is difficult for many of us.  And we do need to take care who we ask since we may be easily hurt or revictimized. Those we choose must be trustworthy - family, friends or counselors who will listen, encourage and pray for us. They don't need to have all the answers, but they must walk with God who does.

Moses' help came from two trusted men, Aaron his own brother who stood with him in Pharaoh's court from the beginning of the plagues and Hur. We don't know much about Hur, but in later passages  at Mt. Sinai, we see that he had become a trusted friend and aide to Moses. (Exodus 24:14)

Remember that God is walking with you through this recovery process. He has been showing himself to be faithful in his love, provision and protection for you. Even if there seems to be no one there to help you, he is there. But as you trust him, he can bring others into your life who will help hold up your arms when you feel too weary or injured to fully trust him.

How has God been doing this for you? Who has he brought alongside you to help you - to hold up your arms?  

How much can you carry?

"Carry each other’s burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 CEB

Missionaries who do Bible translation work have an interesting job. In many cases, they have to create a written alphabet for a language that is only spoken. Then they have to work with the native speakers of that language to choose the right words so that their particular culture will understand the true meaning of the scriptures.

In the Konni language, spoken by a people group in Ghana, there were 5 different words for the verb, "to carry." Each word had a different meaning and was used in a different circumstance. To choose the wrong one would confuse the Konni language speakers about the real meaning of this verse.

One word meant "to carry on one's back" and was always used when speaking about carrying a baby. Another similar word meant to "carry on the hip," which referred to a small child. Since babies and young children aren't considered to be a burden in that culture, that word would have been a poor choice.

Two other words referred to carrying something light in front of you or carrying something on your shoulder like firewood or a tool. Those words would not have conveyed the true meaning of the verse either, because carrying firewood and tools were important activities - definitely not burdens as we understand them. And when we think of carrying something light in front of us, it certainly doesn't produce the mental image of struggling with a burden.

The final word meant to carry a heavy load on the head. From the time the people were children, they strengthened their necks and backs by gradually increasing the weight of the loads they carried. By the time they reached adulthood, they could carry heavy loads without problems. This was the most appropriate word to translate the verse. 
 
Wow! What a rich picture that gives to this verse. "Carry each other's heaviest burdens on your head and so fulfill Christ's command!"

Lord, Keep me accountable

And so let us come near to God with a true heart full of faith. Our hearts must be made clean from guilty feelings and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22 New Life Version (NLV)

A few days ago, I joined an accountability group to help keep me on track with my writing. It's not that I lack motivation - I do try to blog almost daily; I've reached chapter 13 in my latest novel-writing endeavor; I write countless extra things each week like a Teen Sunday School lesson, letters, e-mails, and a host of other stuff.

But it is easy to get side-tracked. Oh I'll just veg for a few minutes by playing a quick computer game (or 2 or 3...) or I'll look around me and see all the household things that need doing and leap up from the computer to do them NOW! It's amazing how many otherwise invisible dust bunnies and cobwebs I can see from my computer chair.

Sometimes without realizing it, I sabotage myself, making it difficult to succeed or achieve the things I know God wants me to do. I look at the whole project and feel overwhelmed not knowing where to start - so I procrastinate and don't start the project until I feel so guilty about it I have to do SOMETHING. Then it's either done half-way or not at all. I might switch into panic mode and work hard at it to the exclusion of everything else - even biting the heads off of my family members who interrupt me. LOL!

So I need a plan of action to help me change my ways and to meet my goals.

1. Admit I have some motivation problems when it comes to my writing (and several other areas of life too!)
2. Form a plan to change that behavior by setting weekly goals.
3. Commit to working on those goals and reporting on the progress (and not beating myself up when I can't meet those goals!).
4. Finding accountability partners - in this case a wonderful group of committed Christian writers to whom I have to report each week with goals for the week and results from the previous week. It also means that I must hold the other members accountable too which is a good motivator. It's not acceptable to encourage others to do what I'm not willing to do myself.

Keep me accountable, Lord. Help me to change one step at a time, so I can eventually reach my goal of being a productive/ prolific writer for you. Amen.