There are some things in life that we try to turn into individual Olympic sports, wrongly thinking someone will be giving out medals for our efforts. One of mine is trying to bring in all the groceries in one trip. First, I precariously balance several bags on each arm, then I somehow create and pick up a tower of boxes so tall, it obstructs my vision completely. Then, I struggle to open the door into the house from the garage with my pinky finger, kicking it open just wide enough to pass through. For me, when I attempt this grocery-balancing, death-defying feat, it often seems to end, not with a medal, but with a whole jar of pickles smashed behind my car in the driveway. Super not fun to clean up, by the way. Why am I so stubborn that I try and do things like this on my own?

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When it comes to carrying groceries, I sometimes forget there are five other people in my house that are also capable of bringing things inside. Maybe it is pride or a spirit of martyrdom that keeps me from asking for help and instead struggling and grumbling alone. While this is a very trivial example, I think there are many areas in life where we operate like this. Ever been assigned a group project and then decided you’d do the whole thing yourself? Hosted and cooked a huge meal when it could have been a potluck? Remodeled a space alone when a neighbor or cousin would have been happy to come help? I think God designed us to work in teams – just look at Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:18), the people who rebuilt the wall with Nehemiah (Neh. 4:6), or Jesus calling disciples to do ministry with him (Luke 6:13-16) – but we so often want to go it alone.

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In Exodus 17, it seems God gave an important job for just Moses to do as Joshua was leading the people to fight the Amalekites. He was to hold his arms up to secure their success against their enemies. When his arms fell, the Amalekites started to win the battle. Thankfully, Moses had Aaron and Hur with him to give him a rock to sit on and hold up his hands when he grew tired.  

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Aaron, who was Moses’ brother, and Hur, who was a friend of Moses and possibly even his brother-in-law according to some Jewish texts, had gone up the hill with Moses during the battle.  In previous readings of this story, I had always assumed it was Moses’ job to do, and he just couldn’t do it, so the other two men helped. But in reading it again, it strikes me that God knew Moses would be unable to hold his hands high until Joshua defeated the Amalekites. God didn’t send him up that hill alone. He had two other able-bodied men with him who knew how to help and were willing to also put in the work to see victory for the Israelites. Moses was part of a group project; the burden wasn’t his to bear alone. God didn’t yell down from Heaven to Aaron and Hur to stop helping, to make Moses do it alone. The group effort still pleased God, who was ultimately the One who led his people to victory.

Try as we might to win at life on our own, God has a better way for us in community. We don’t get more credit if we go it alone; in fact, I think we get less because we miss out on the relationships and sharpening that happens when we do life together. Life is so hard, and we get tired. There is too much to do, and we just aren’t strong enough to handle everything that comes at us on our own. Who can you ask to come alongside you in the hard things? The Bible doesn’t say whether or not Moses asked for help or whether Aaron and Hur just knew what needed to be done. Are you inviting the kinds of people into the battles of life with you who can see what needs to be done and who are willing to step in and do it? Can you be that person for someone else in your life? It is easy to say “live life in community,” but not as easy to live it out. It is awkward sometimes, and it can be tiring. But we see over and over again in the Bible that God wants us to live and work side-by-side with others so that we may do Kingdom work together and glorify him.

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God, would you please help us to ask for help when we need it. Please send the people into our lives who are trustworthy enough to ask if we currently don’t have the right people. Lord, we so often want to do everything ourselves, but Jesus modeled doing life with other people while he walked this earth. Help us to be obedient and to assist where needed when we see someone who just can’t hold on any longer. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.