Lean on me

Yesterday in one of my classes a professor brought a much needed devotional for our class. You see it's midterm time and that means that we graduate students start to get a little frazzled and slightly out of control. She brought these verses from Exodus 17: 

"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. 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."


I was really struck with the beauty of this scene when she read it aloud to us. It was a perfect picture of weakness and how God provides people to support us in our weakness. Sometimes its so hard for me though.... I tighten my fists and say 'I can do this by myself, I've got this, my arms are strong enough.' But that's not how its supposed to go. You are supposed to look at those closest to you and let them see how tired you are, how weak your arms feel and let them give you a seat and some rest from your work. Needing other people doesn't make you needy or dependent or weak, it makes you human - a human that God made with the unique desire for relationship and community.