Every She Needs a Hur

Bible Reading: Exodus 17:8-13

In this short snippet of scripture we find Moses telling Joshua to choose a group of men to go with him to fight Amalek. Moses then takes the rod of God in his hand, along with Aaron and Hur, and goes to the top of the hill. Let’s linger there for a second because it’s worth repeating. Moses grabs the rod of God, and takes with him Aaron, and Hur.

Who in the world is Hur? That my sweet sisters, is a whole different and wonderful study. We don’t know a lot about him, however what we do know is Moses established trust in him – enough to know he could take him into battle. Let’s linger again – Moses had spent time investing in a relationship with Hur – he didn’t just haphazardly grab him as he meandered his way up that hill – No, he was strategically, purposefully chosen. Moses knew who he could count on to help him withstand as he held up that rod.

Let’s get back to our reading – Moses is on top of the hill, Joshua chose his men to fight, and Moses chose his own men to take with him…

The significance of the Rod.

God used that rod to prove that he had appeared to Moses, so that the people knew they could follow him, to prove God had spoken to him. God used it to show signs, and told Moses to take it with him when he went back to Egypt. God told him to stretch it out upon the waters of Egypt and they became blood. God told him to stretch out his rod and the dust became lice. God told him to stretch out his rod and hail came down. God told him to stretch out his rod and locusts came. God told him to stretch out the rod and the waters parted. God told him to smite the rock with the rod, and the people drank water from the rock.

What’s interesting about the rod in this piece of scripture is God had specifically told Moses on each of the other occurrences – take the rod and do this… but with this one, it doesn’t specifically call that out. In my mind, I see Moses in this point activating his faith. In a place of confidence in the power of rod of God, moved to apply it. He knew it was not God’s will for Amalek to prevail over the Israelites, and he came to a point of courage ready to go, and stand on God’s word. He knew he could take it to battle with him.

God’s timing is different than ours

Unfortunately, that battle wasn’t a prayer said, and boom it was over. No, that battle took time… and his arms got tired, and heavy. But Moses was wise, wasn’t he? He understood the power of God, but he also understood his limitation, human weakness – and he was humble enough not to go into that battle alone….

Which honestly, is something we fail at time and time again. Don’t we?

I don’t know if it’s due to the culture we live in or our own selfish pride – but far too often we go through battles of life and we do good to stand on God’s word, proclaim its power but we go to the top of our hill alone. Attempting to hold on to our own rod of God and that battle rages longer than we expected and we get tired – and because of our selfishness in not allowing anyone else in. Or not wanting to tell anyone else that we are struggling – our hands fall to our side, and we become a victim instead of the victor we would have been had we allowed others to hold us up when it got too much for us to bear alone.

My dear sisters, we aren’t less of a woman or Christ follower because our arms get tired – or we grow weary in the midst of our battle. Moses was a hero of faith, and he dealt with the same weakness of flesh in which we do. Standing on the word of God – it’s a noble thing – it is a powerful thing – it is a necessary thing – and it can be a hard thing. God desires us to get to that place where we stand on his promises, but what we have to account for is our human weakness, and in doing so we must come to a place of humility willing to let someone else in.

If we don’t, it won’t be the Amalek that stands in our way that takes us out – it will be our own selfish pride that gets in our way. No one wants to appear weak, often times we don’t want others to know we are struggling because we want everyone to think, “Hey! I’ve got my life together!” Or we don’t want to be a burden to someone else, or let anyone know our secret sin. But that is just not Biblical, excusable or a Godly characteristic – no matter the excuse you use in your mind as justification.  

Building relationships with other women can be a scary thing – but as we all know there is coming a battle in each and every one of our lives. Scripture tells WHEN we go through deep waters, we won’t drown and WHEN we walk through the fire, we won’t be burned. NOT IF.

There will come a point where we activate our faith by taking the rod of God in our hand and stand – and we’re going to need the strength of our Pastor on one side and we’re also going to need the strength of a Hur on the other both willing to grab the stone and prop us up, and to get in and help us hold our hands when we come to the point of exhaustion.

I wonder today, who is your Hur?

Do you have one? If not, I encourage you to begin to pray, that God would open your eyes to the woman he has purposed to be your friend, your confidant, the one who is willing to speak the word of God in encouragement to you, and will step in and hold your hands up high when you can no longer do it on your own. The Hur your looking for is the one who understands the power of the rod of God in your hand and the necessity to stand while that battle is raging. She is the woman who can see when you are weary and is willing to step in and help you to be anchored and firm in the promise God has spoken to you. Every She needs a Hur… and we have a choice to make, will we choose to go it alone today – or will we make it a point to begin to pray that God would align us with a friend willing to step in and help hold us up when that battle rages on…