Hold Me Up from "She Reads Truth"

Hold Me Up An excerpt from the new book, She Reads Truth The body of Christ, His Church, is one of the most tangible evidences here on this temporary earth of the permanence of the gospel. She gathers her people for worship and prayer, for confession and edification. She invites them to the table to remember the sacrificial death of Jesus, to give thanks for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Throughout space and time, from the first disciples to now, the Church has stood like a neon arrow pointing to the gospel by which it exists. We don’t just see the arrow on Sundays when we stand and sing the call to worship or sit and listen to the sermon. We see it in the Church’s people who sit with us for hours in the waiting room, who ask “How are you?” then hold your gaze until you answer, who rush over to bail water out of a flooding basement. The purpose of the arrow is not to solve your problems, but to remind you of what is true. The Church holds the gospel up high for us to see. When the Israelites were wandering in the desert, they were attacked by the Amalekites. This was after the Lord delivered them from slavery in Egypt, after He parted the Red Sea so they could cross, after He rained down bread from heaven to satisfy their hunger and caused water to pour from a rock to satisfy their thirst. Just as He rescued and sustained them so many times before, God would do the same during this battle. And He would choose to do so through a familiar image: Moses’ arms raised in the air. And as Joshua led the people into battle against Amalek, Moses’ upraised arms determined the outcome of the fight. As long as Moses held up his arms, the Israelites prevailed; when he lowered them, the Amalekites prevailed. So Moses held up his arms. Then something wonderfully ordinary happened. Moses’ arms got tired. Moses, the man God had chosen to deliver His people from bondage and lead them to the Promised Land, needed help. When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword. (Exod. 17:12–13) Israel needed Moses to hold up his hands so they could win the battle. And Moses needed Aaron and Hur to help him hold up his hands. We all need holding up. We all need our arms or our faith propped up by the arms or faith of another. When others live in the gospel and live it out, it helps us do the same. Like Moses and Aaron and Hur, we are all part of the great “cloud of witnesses” and it is our responsibility to point our brothers’ and sisters’ eyes to Jesus, “the source and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:1–2). We don’t just need help when water is rising, or the sickness is prolonged, or the grief is fresh—we need help all the time. Our forgetfulness came with the fall, but the privilege of reminding one another of the gospel is ours until all that is temporary passes away.