A Praise & A People

Reading of the Day: Exodus 17-19

Exodus 17:12: But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

After really studying the journey of Jacob early on, it is apparent that each person in the Bible was on a journey (as we all are!). None were perfect, but all chose to be perfected to the best of their ability to let God lead them. Moses was no exception! He started off very insecure & unsure of himself...but as he grew closer to God, he came to the point where he thought he no longer needed help at all! Moses possibly thought to himself, "Just me & The Lord and I'm good to go! I got this whole leadership thing all on my own!" We can see that by the Scriptures in the reading today! In the above passage, Aaron & Hur held up Moses' hands in battle because he was getting tired. If Moses' arms went down, they lost, but if his arms stayed up, they won! The interesting thing is though, it does not say Moses asked for that help. Aaron & Hur just stepped up on their own. But we must remember...we can't be afraid to ask for help! We can be holding up our hands in praise, but God also gave us our people to help us! We are not supposed to do this all on our own! There may be times we feel too weak to hold up our hands in praise, or say a prayer, but that's when we need to reach out to our church family to lift us up out of the rut or the depressive state we find ourselves in! We need someone to praise or to pray with. We need a church body. We need a church family. We need both a praise and a people! Another instance where Moses realized this lesson was when his father-in-law gave him some much-needed advice: have people help you take care of other people's problems! Judging all the matters of the people should not all fall on one person's shoulders: "And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee." Exodus 18:22. We need people to bear our burdens with us. We need a praise to The Lord from where our help comes from, and we must remember that He sends us that help through those around us! The New Testament gives us many instances of this message as well! So remember, we need a praise & a people. We need our God and the church family He has given us. We need to be bold enough to ask for help, and in turn, be strong enough to give others that help in return!