Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
“Two people are better off than one,
for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other
can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.”
Telephone Poles and Praising God
I was
driving down Walker Road the other day while a gospel song called “Shackles” by
Mandisa was blaring in my car. Right as the lyrics sang, “You broke the chains
now I can lift my hands,” I passed a telephone pole that had two beams sticking
up on either side of it in a ‘v’ shape, resembling two arms.
The
first thought that came to mind was how sturdy the “arms” were and how they
looked as if they weren’t coming down any time soon. Because of the particular
song I was listening to at the time, thoughts of personal worship came to mind.
What
if we were like those telephone poles?
What if we
were shackled up, beaten down, or weary with exhaustion and we still lifted our hands to praise God?
It
sounds very bold and courageous to have a faith like that; to have stamina like
that.
But
then the Lord reminded me of a story in Exodus that helped me understand the real
power behind the truth of the telephone pole “arms.”
On The Battlefield
In
Exodus 17, the Israelite army is under attack.
Moses has recently
been used by God to deliver the people of Israel out of Egypt and into freedom.
He knows the power that God has and the faithfulness to follow through on His
word.
Moses
tells Joshua to take the Israelite army out to battle to face their enemy and
as long as he (Moses) keeps his hands/staff raised in the air, the Lord will
win the battle for them.
“So Joshua did what Moses had
commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and Hur
climbed to the top of a nearby hill. As long as Moses held up the staff in his
hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the
Amalekites gained the advantage (v10-12).”
We face so
many battles in our lives, don’t we?
It’s easy to feel like the Israelite army and
to feel like enemy after enemy keeps coming our way.
But
I love God’s simple request to their victory.
Praise.
God
simply asks Moses to keep his hands lifted, to acknowledge that the true
victory goes to the King and the rest will be taken care of by God. Our God has
a heart that desires a victory for all His children and His victories are good.
When
we lift our hands in praise, we are surrendering to the God who can make the victory
happen. We’re acknowledging that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours and
trust Him to lead us through the circumstances of life.
Sometimes
that’s easier said that done, isn’t it?
Because
we’re human, our hands fall. We get tired. We get burned out. We can’t see the
ending.
Even Moses’ arms
fell.
Even though
he had faith, trusted in the Lord and believed in God’s promise to make a way
for them, he was still a human. He still got tired, lost his strength and wasn’t
able to do what he wanted to do on his own.
So,
Moses’ friends stepped in.
Lifting Each Other Higher
“Moses’ arms soon became so tired he
could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on.
Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held
steady until sunset. As a result, Joshua
overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle (v12-13).”
Moses’
friends saw that he was struggling.
They saw
that he desperately wanted to keep his hands raised, to keep the staff lifted
high towards the Lord. But they knew that he couldn’t do it alone.
So they raised his hands for him.
And that’s
how the battle was won.
Together. In
relationship with each other and in partnership with God.
Two Are Better Than One
Just like
Moses, we have responsibilities. We have leadership positions, jobs, families
to take care of, people to interact with, relationships to cultivate, problems
to solve, messes to clean up and trails to blaze.
Sometimes
with those responsibilities, we lose our strength. We lose our ability to keep
it all together and our arms start getting really tired. It sounds really tempting
to be able to just lower them for a bit and let the battle overtake you for
just a little while.
But God has
other plans for you.
Better plans
for you.
He
not only wants to win the fight for you, but he wants to bring you relationships
that will bolster you up along the way.
He wants to
bring you Aarons and Hurs to walk into your life and hold your arms up when you
can’t hold them up any longer yourself.
An important
part of worship is coming alongside each other during the times when we feel
bitterly exhausted, inadequate or beaten down and holding each others hands up.
Through the
encouraging voices, hopeful hearts and courageous prayers of our families and
communities, we can begin cultivating a culture of worship that holds up the
hands of the people around us when it seems impossible to lift them ourselves.
Just because
we can’t do it on our own, doesn’t mean that the act of worship is any less
meaningful. It actually gives our worship a new power because we are entering
into the presence of God as a team, a community and a family.
Worshipping With Family
I love when
we’re in a worship or prayer service and we take the hand of the person next to
us. It’s such a beautiful picture of the way that we are called to live our lives
of worship to God.
Just
like Moses, Aaron and Hur, we are created to worship in community. In one
voice.
We
are also called to partner with God in his Kingdom work.
When
those two collide, it creates an unstoppable force for the glory of God and the
purpose He has set before each one of us.
We
are stronger together and we are able to hold our hands up higher and much
longer when they are supported by the hands of our brothers and sisters.
It’s
not weak. It’s not failure. It’s not incapability.
It’s
power.
It’s
strength.
It’s
the way we were created to be.
To live in
the context of a powerful community that raises each others hands up to the God
who makes our victories possible.
Allie
ameade@b4church.org
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