God Speaking

“Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way.”

(Isaiah 35:3)

I am always fascinated and amazed when I find a story within the Bible that so resonates exactly with what we as present day believers struggle with, and then am equally amazed at the solution provided by God’s word that is still applicable in our own lives today. The one story that grabbed my attention recently, I found in the book of Exodus. The Israelites are wandering in the desert, when they are attacked by a neighbouring tribe. Moses marshals the young men to fight them off, but knows they will need help from the Lord, so he assumes a symbolic position on the top of a hill, overlooking the fighting so all can see him, and he raises his hands in appeal to the one true God that can help them.

“As long as Moses held up his hands, 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.” (Exodus 17:11 – 12)

Our battles today may not resemble those of the Exodus period, but we can certainly relate to the same emotions racing through Moses, as we may have felt them also, when facing what looks like a terrifying ordeal for us, and know we need to seek the Lord to help us, but the thought of doing this alone without any help can be daunting. How will we find the strength! The reason I love this story so much, is that the solution is made so clear. Firstly, we need to ask for the Lord’s help and then, sometimes difficult for some of us, we need to accept the help of others.

If we look closely again at the story, we can see the necessity for God’s children to work closely together. Moses had to be humble enough to accept the help of Aaron and Hur and they in turn had to be willing to offer help in a practical way. Wonderful example for us as a family of believers to follow.

When Paul was writing to the Ephesians, he gives a beautiful description of how we can actively hold one another up;

“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16)

In the last chapter of the book of Proverbs, we have a very detailed description of a lady who is described in the heading of my Bible as being, The Wife Of Noble Character, as we read through her virtues one verse stands out for me;

“She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy” (Proverbs 31:20)

The message I receive from this verse is that, if we take seriously Paul’s words about upholding one another we need to adopt a welcoming, warm, arms and hands outstretched attitude, so that those that need our help will have no reservation about coming to us for help, then we will be fulfilling Christ’s words

“The second is this: Love your neighbour as yourself….” (Mark 12:31)