The help nobody asked for
“So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 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 17:10-13 (NIV)
These people had been slaves in Egypt not long before, and they were not trained soldiers. Amalek was a raiding tribe from desert country south of Canaan, descended from Esau. Deuteronomy records their method: strike a column from behind and pick off stragglers, whoever is worn out and lagging. That raid came in this same camp, right after everyone quarreled over water. Things got ugly enough that their leader said this crowd was ready to stone him. Up on that ridge stands a man of eighty, holding the staff he once used at the Nile and at a rock. Hebrew uses an everyday word for what gave out in him: heavy, like a load, not sleepy. Of the two men who stepped in beside him, one is his own brother; the other appears in only a handful of verses in all of Scripture. Down below, a commander leads the fighting, and this is the first time in the Bible anyone writes his name. Even the strongest person gives out when nobody stands beside them.
Someone near you is running out of strength and has not said so. People rarely announce it; they just go quieter. Maybe someone at work who stopped writing in the group chat and only answers when they have to. Maybe someone who always called you first and has gone silent for a month. Maybe someone in your home who has cleared up alone three evenings running. Or maybe it is you, and you have not asked anyone either. Jesus asked his closest friends to stay near him on the worst night he had.
Three minutes nobody asked for
- 1Pick the one person who came to mind while you read those three sentences; if nobody came to mind, pick the last person whose name you saw on your phone. Give them three minutes today and say why you are there: I am calling because I thought about you. If they live with you, say it face to face and take one job off them without being asked; if they do not pick up, leave it as a voice message or send it in writing, and that counts as done.
- 2If you are the one running out of strength today, do it the other way round and ask. Pick one person and send or say one concrete sentence: call me tonight, we do not have to talk about anything in particular. It takes a minute, it does not depend on anyone agreeing, and tonight you will know whether you sent it.
God, I get tired and I carry on as if I did not. There are people around me who are worse off and say nothing about it. Show me one of them today and give me the nerve to go first. And if today I am the one whose hands are going down, give me the words to ask somebody. I do not know how this day will go, and I am asking you to be in it.
Today I open the conversation with a friend who is not expecting it, and if I am the one running out, I say so.
Who were the Amalekites?
A raiding people of the desert south of Canaan, descended from Esau (Genesis 36:12). Deuteronomy 25:17-18 describes how they fought: strike the rear of a column and cut off the stragglers, the people who were exhausted and weak. This was the first battle Israel fought after leaving Egypt.
What if I am the one with nothing left to give today?
Then you are the person this passage is about. The man on the hill could not keep his own arms up, and he never asked anyone for help. Two people saw it and moved anyway. Your part today is to let one person know, in one sentence, that you would like them near.
What if the person on my mind lives far away, or does not answer?
Call or write instead of waiting for a better moment, and finish with something concrete rather than an open offer: name the day and the hour you will call again. If nobody picks up, leave it as a voice message or a text. It costs nothing, needs no travel, and you can check tonight whether you did it.