Can I blame age for my lack of ambition? The body isn’t as strong now so that is a good excuse for those activities that require physical strength. I’d rather nap than exercise, watch a game on television than do the dishes, wear wrinkled clothes than iron them. Many times during the day I find myself doing chores out of sheer will power than any desire. Most of the time, once I get started it isn’t as challenging as my thoughts made it.
This stage, if it is a stage, is new for me. I’ve always been an eager worker. One summer I dug a hillside beside our house and made it a series of steps. This was hard physical work and turned out well. I’ve made king-size quilts and now view that similar to constructing a four-man tent. This decline in ambition bothers me, not the aging part but the attitude of resentment toward doing what needs to be done, or should be done.
It hits spiritual responsibilities too. No one person can do all that the Bible calls Christians to do, but I’m often shirking even those things that God puts on my plate. I’m too tired or I have easier tasks and put the more important at the bottom of the list.
A few principles come to mind. One is when Moses led a battle. His army won as long as he held up his hands…
But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. (Exodus 17:12)
When his hands dropped, the army started to lose, but as others supported their leader, they won the battle. This says much about the importance of Christian fellowship and the need to be supported. Don’t be a loner, and I tend to like be alone, but this is not always the best choice.
In another OT narrative, David was being attacked by his son. The son’s advisor said…
I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king, (2 Samuel 17:2)
This is a spiritual warfare principle: the enemy goes after God’s people when we get weary and discouraged. Sometimes more sleep is the issue, yet in this story God sent another advisor with a different plan that sounded good but led to David’s victory.
I need to be alert. Fatigue and feeling discouraged is to be vulnerable, yet the answer is not always in being rested — it is in trusting God to get me where I need to be and with the energy I need to have, just as the psalmist did:
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1)
One friend says the next verses are about spiritual weariness, not physical, yet it seems to me they are partners that require the same solution:
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28–31)
God also says: “I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” (Jeremiah 31:25) and “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9) and “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” (Hebrews 12:3)
PRAY: Jesus, forgive me for turning my mind toward how I feel instead of toward You. Your grace is sufficient. I may get tired, but You are enough and You always supply whatever I need for whatever You want me to be and do. Give me wisdom so I don’t try to do too much for me, but rely on You for whatever you put on my to-do list.
When Israel left their slavery in Egypt, life was still a big challenge. They had their freedom, but also their battles. The story of that nation is a picture of Christian salvation. People enslaved by sin are set free from its tyranny — yet we still experience attacks to our faith.
Yesterday I felt bone weary from fighting spiritual battles. I wanted to toss in the towel. I could not see results so it seemed that my prayers were bouncing off the ceiling. Today, God encourages me with a verse about the newly freed people of Israel. They were suddenly assaulted by the Amaleks. Joshua led in defense against these enemies. Moses went to the top of a hill and held up his staff.
But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. (Exodus 17:12)
While Moses’ hands were raised, Israel was winning this battle, but when his hands lowered, Amalek prevailed. As two others came and held up his hands, Israel prevailed and eventually won.
The raising of his hands and staff signified at least two things. Raised hands indicate supplication and intercessory prayer.
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! (Psalm 141:2)
The Bible does not say that Joshua’s hands were heavy in fighting, but Moses’s hands were heavy in praying. One commentator suggests that the more spiritual our service, the more apt we are to falter in it. Praying is hard work. I am full of energy in the morning, but after a time of intense prayer I feel exhausted. Jesus described this by saying that even though the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.
But what about the staff? One writer says that by this time the staff was famous and a strong symbol of God’s saving acts. Another says that by holding the staff of God above his head with both hands, Moses symbolized Israel’s total dependence on the power of God. This would encourage the soldiers as they fought yet another enemy.
The biggest encouragement from this verse is that the two activities were important. It is as important that Joshua fights with the sword as that Moses should wrestle in prayer. Neither would be effective without the other. The battle did not depend on Joshua’s skill, yet it could not be won without him. In the same way, Moses’ prayer was nothing without the practical work of Joshua, yet Joshua totally depended on Moses’ intercession, even though he could not see him or hear him as he did his part.
When I pray, I am not very often the answer to my own prayers. Like Moses, I’m calling out to God, not out there engaged in making things happen. This is okay, but I usually cannot see who is winning either. My arms get tired. I don’t have a staff from God or a vision of an army, only the command to pray.
I’ve been praying more and more for the other warriors, those who are out there like Joshua putting shoe leather to my prayers. When I pray for someone to hear and believe the Gospel, I am also praying for the Christians who know that person. I pray they will be faithful to tell the person on my prayer list the good news that Jesus Christ died for their sin and offers eternal life by grace through faith. I pray these Christian friends will not get discouraged and will hear God, obeying whatever He tells them to do.
But my arms get tired. My spirit feels like plunking down on a rock and giving in to ‘poor me’ because this is hard work. Moses needed help. Sometimes I do too, because some days it seems like the whole world has stopped praying.
John MacArthur says this, “The ebb and flow of battle in correlation with Moses’ uplifted or drooping arms imparted more than psychological encouragement as the soldiers looked up to their leader on the hilltop, and more than Moses’ interceding for them. It demonstrated and acknowledged their having to depend upon God for victory in battle and not upon their own strength and zeal.”
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Lord, this is so true. Friends can come along and help, but the battle is Yours. Only by Your grace can the enemies of lies, darkness, evil and sin be defeated. As Moses displays, fatigue may set in, but that will not stop You from giving victory to Your people. Just as the soldiers were encouraged to see Joshua before them in the field of battle and Moses above them upon the top of the hill, I am encouraged that Christ is both. You are my Joshua, the captain of my salvation who fights my battles — and my Moses, who is seated high in the heavens, ever living to intercede for me so my faith does not fail. I am still weary, but also thankful that You are holding up my arms.
