Two Sides to Help

Independence is now being expressed by our younger grandchildren as they are learning and wanting to do things, “by myself.”  But occasionally there comes a time when guidance and a little additional help are needed along the way.  It reminded me of lessons I am still in the process of learning, too. 

One of the things I had to come to grips with as my Multiple Sclerosis progressed was that there were times I needed additional help with some activities.  Whether it was pride or stubbornness, or both, I had to get to the point where I accepted help graciously or asked for it when needed.  It was helpful when I was specific about how and what I needed at the moment so the one helping didn’t have to guess.  I also needed to be sensitive about having help when it was most convenient for the one offering aid.  Through the years, I have thoroughly enjoyed doing things for people, but I did not want to be on the flip side where I needed others to help me.  God had to teach and remind me that just as I was blessed when I helped others that they should also have the opportunity to be blessed when they helped me.  It also meant that I needed to be creative in finding additional ways that I could continue to be helpful when some of the previous ways were no longer an option.

When the boys were younger, the children’s choirs at church did a musical about “Hur the Hand Holder,” based on the Biblical account in Exodus 17:8-13.   It was a musical that expressed the willingness of people to help others.  Aaron and Hur were able to help Moses complete a task when he no longer had strength to do so on his own.

The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 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. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sward.

These days the need for help has been magnified after deaths in families, the destruction of Hurricane Harvey, other hurricanes, earthquakes, the shootings in Las Vegas, and other tragedies.  Sometimes the solutions are obvious while other times we need them voiced or expressed in order to know how to best meet the needs for the current situation.  With God as our Helper, may we be willing to have His eyes, ears, feet, and heart to see the needs around us and respond in love, encouragement, prayer, and help.  And when it’s our time to receive help may it be with much gratitude.

But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.

Psalm 10:14

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1

Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.

Psalm 54:4

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:2

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever –

John 14:16

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Acts 20:35

And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

I Thessalonians 5:14