By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

“Encouragement in Christ arises from the heart. It is prayerfully given, sometimes with many words but more often, I suspect, with few.”

– Stephen V. Doughty

If you point at a dark time in my life, I can point at the people who helped me through it. Youth pastors, friends, family, or coworkers, there were always people nearby lifting me up and offering an encouraging word.

I think that it is necessary, in life, to have a system of people that love and support you. Without that, even the brightest days can seem pretty grim. Everyone needs those people who care about them enough to check on them, value them enough to encourage them, and love them enough to cry with them.

I think about Moses. As the Israelites were fighting the Amalekites, Moses stands on a hill nearby, overlooking the battlefield.

“As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword” (Exodus 17:11-13).

God had called Moses to lift his staff above his head as the battle raged on below him. When Moses grew tired, Aaron and Hur stepped up to share his burden. When Moses felt like he could not go on, Aaron and Hur helped him to keep going.

We all need a Christian support system. We each need Aaron and Hur’s in our lives. We need those people who will encourage us to pursue what God has called us to do.

When we are following the will of God, a lot of voices will be speaking into our lives. Many people will share their thoughts, opinions, and advice on what we should do. The unfortunate reality is that many of these voices, while they mean well, may be pushing us off the path that God has set before us.

This is why we need Aaron and Hur’s in our life. People who share a sensitivity to the Spirit. People who know and love God. People who encourage us to seek God’s will and stick with it.

True Aaron and Hur’s are hard to come by. People who are willing to encourage you to follow God’s plan and hold your arms while you do it are few and far between. But we each need to pray that God will bring Aaron and Hur’s into our lives.

Not only that, but we need to pray that God would enable us to be an Aaron or a Hur for someone else. We must ask that He give us insight into His will, a sensitivity to His Spirit, and a love for His people.

There are people who need their arms supported all around you. Be an Aaron or a Hur for someone else this week. Send an encouraging text. Let someone know you’ve been praying for them. Take someone out to lunch. Ask someone how they’re really doing. Allow God to use you to support someone else in doing His will.

There’s no better feeling than having an Aaron or a Hur in your life. Except,maybe being an Aaron or a Hur for someone else.

Parents: Explain to your child how, just as Moses has Aaron and Hur, we each need people to support us in our times of need.