In Exodus chapter 17, we find the all to familliar story of Joshua and the battle with the Amelekites.  It’s the one where Moses and Aaron and Hur stand on the top of the hill overlooking the battle and, hands raised, seem to control the battle outcome from afar.  As long as Moses’s hands are raised, Joshua and his men are winning.  When the hands come down, the victory is lost.

I’m heading out on mission soon.  I just this morning asked a young man to be a part of the team that is working the will of God in that foreign land.  In thinking through my request and looking to this biblical story, I see the beauty of God’s plan.

From the beginning there were three.  God set the perfect model of life in community with His own very existence.  We are, for better or worse, whether we like it or not, whether or not we fully embrace or utilize it, a part of a larger whole.  The Body of Christ.  

As members of this Body, our roles aren’t stagnant–‘I’m a foot, that’s what I do’ or ‘I’m an ear, it is my place.’  No, there are many roles, many parts to play, and many scenarios in which your role may sway and shift.  

Perhaps in one area of your life, to one hurting friend, you are an ear.  Perhaps to the lost in a far off land, you will come as the hands and feet.  Maybe today, the Body needs for you to breathe life and joy into the darkness around you.  Maybe your church needs eyes to see that which they haven’t been open to before.

Here’s the truth of the matter:  we are not so different from Joshua on any given day.  Every day is a battle.  Satan is after our hearts and our witness and our lives and our children.  He is ruthless and prowling.  Whether you go looking for it or not, the battle is coming to you! (see Exodus 17:8, who came after whom.)  And in every fight, you have a role to play.  On this battlefield, you may be the one getting your hands dirty like Joshua.  You may barely walk away from this one bearing the battle scars of a long and vicious fight.  

If you don’t find yourself on the battlefield itself today, have you considered that that might not mean it is your day off?  

While the battle is undoubtedly won or lost at the hands of those who fight, victory requires far more than brawn and brute courage.  There are others whose roles are every bit as necessary, every bit as imperative as those who carry the weapons of war.  

Moses, in the raising or lowering of his hands, turned the tide of the battle below. His intercession, his concession to play his role in the battles that raged around him had a profound impact on the outcome of those battles.  The battle was won or lost depending on whether or not he carried out his role, whether or not, with hands raised, he offered his clean hands in ceaseless intercession.

Let us not forget Aaron and Hur.  How often we pass over their role, perhaps hoping that if we don’t acknowledge it it won’t be handed down to us.  How many seek the lackluster burden of namelessly carrying the burden of another? The battle can be won or lost on whether or not they show up for the job.  Moses couldn’t do it alone, and Joshua was only half the team.  Theirs was a place of submission and subservience.  And on their obedience, the outcome of the battle rests.

Rubber meets the road: do you believe that the victories that you pursue today can be won or lost based on the ability of the Body of Christ to carry out the roles they were intended to?  Do you believe that the battles that others around you face can be won or lost depending on whether or not you show up to work?  

What does it really look like to bear one another’s burdens?

Bloody hands or upheld arms, muscle and grit, brawn and focus, sweat, tears, and intercession.  Where’s your battle of the day and what role are you to play there?