Accepting Help

Last night I stood in Home Depot staring up at a rack of 4×4 fence posts about seven feet off the ground. I needed ten. I managed to grab one decent post, which left only nine more opportunities to injure myself.

My lifelong instinct kicked in: Figure it out.

A few days earlier, Pastor Matt had preached about an aging David who grew faint in battle and was nearly killed by a giant. One of David’s men stepped in and killed the giant for him. Pastor Matt made a statement that stuck with me: “You don’t have to kill every giant in your life. Some of your giants are for other people to kill for you.”

Back at Home Depot, I noticed a young employee standing on one of those yellow rolling staircases. I asked if I could borrow another one.

“You can use this,” he said. “I’ll do it for you.”

He rolled the staircase over, climbed up, sorted through the lumber, and began handing posts down to me. And somewhere around post number two, the Holy Spirit brought Sunday’s message right back to mind: Let people help you.

Even with the staircase, I realized I couldn’t have repeatedly climbed up, sorted heavy posts, and carried them down. My arms simply don’t have that strength anymore. By the time I got home and unloaded everything, they were useless noodles anyway.

Moses learned the same lesson. His hands grew heavy, and God didn’t miraculously make his arms stronger. Instead, He gave Moses Aaron and Hur.

Sometimes faith means standing strong. Sometimes wisdom means sitting on the rock and letting somebody hold your arms up.

Pride says, “I’ve got this.”

Humility says, “I could use a hand.”

You don’t have to carry everything. You don’t have to fight everything. And you certainly don’t have to kill every giant yourself.

Sometimes God’s provision is another person standing beside you.