God’s Dwelling Place # 6 by: Suzanne Teuben, Director of High School Ministry

“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 […] so that his hands remained steady till sunset.” Exodus 17:11-12

During week 6, we studied the people chosen to minister in the Tabernacle and to serve the Israelites. Exodus 32:25-29, recounts when the Levites earned their call to be “set apart to the Lord” and blessed by Him for their devotion among a sinful and rebellious people. Out of this tribe came Aaron who, along with his sons, became the priesthood and was instructed to care for the sanctuary and the altar. The Levites were then instructed to support the priesthood by caring for the tabernacle as a whole.

Exodus 17:8-16 offers a beautiful illustration of how this support system works. Joshua was leading the Israelite army against the Amalekites and while it may seem trivial that the army could only win if Moses held up his hands, there is a valuable lesson to be learned from this story. Without Moses keeping his arms up, Joshua could not lead the army to victory and Moses was unable to keep his arms held up without the help of Aaron and Hur. Together these four men were able to experience victory that would not have been possible without the collective work of all four.

Our spiritual journeys function in a similar manner. When we face trials, we can either go it alone or we can call on the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ. “When we refuse to allow anyone to share our personal battles, we risk two negative consequences: We often lengthen the battle [and] we cheat others of the joy of victory.” It can be scary to let people into the daily struggles we face or the mourning of the loss of a loved one or the doubts we have about God (just to name a few) but, since we are made in the image of a relational God, we too are made to be in relationship with other image-bearers. My hope is that you already have a support system and my prayer is that you would allow them to enter the suffering with you so they too may share in the victory! And if you don’t have one yet, my prayer is that you would make it a top priority to find and or create one.

Your sister in Christ,
Suzanne Teuben

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