Who carries the person who has always carried everyone else?

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Scripture for Reflection

Psalm 73:26 (KJV)

“My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”

Galatians 6:2 (KJV)

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”

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Today’s Devotion

When the Strong One Needs Strength

There are people in our lives we have always known to be strong. They are the ones we call when something goes wrong, when we need someone to pray, or when life becomes more than we know how to handle.

They seem to know what to say. They remind us of Scripture, encourage us to keep trusting God, and somehow manage to be there when we need them.

But have you ever stopped to wonder who is praying for them?

Maybe it’s a grandmother who has spent decades praying over her children and grandchildren. She knows the promises of God, and she has seen His faithfulness throughout her life. Yet behind those prayers are concerns she rarely talks about, including situations in her family that have gone on for years without changing.

Maybe it’s a mother or father who has watched a child struggle with addiction, making one difficult decision after another. They have prayed, encouraged, forgiven, and tried to help, but another day has passed, and they are still carrying the same concerns.

Or perhaps it’s the person at church who always has an encouraging word, the one everybody knows they can depend on when something happens.

What many people don’t realize is that the person who has spent years holding everyone else together may be struggling to hold themselves together.

When Being Strong Becomes an Expectation

Something happens when people depend on us for a long time. Without anyone intending it, our strength can become an expectation.

We get used to being the one who listens, the one who prays, and the one who reminds everybody that God is still in control. We may even begin to believe that admitting our own struggles would somehow disappoint the people who look to us for encouragement.

So we keep going.

We answer the phone, check on others, and continue doing what needs to be done. Yet when the day is finally over and everything grows quiet, we may find ourselves sitting before God without knowing what to say.

It’s not that we have stopped believing in Him. We still know His Word, and we haven’t forgotten the ways He has carried us before.

We’re simply tired.

And sometimes that exhaustion runs deeper than what a good night’s sleep can restore.

We have prayed about the same situations for so long that finding the words to pray again becomes difficult. We know God is able, but we are struggling with the weight of waiting, wondering, and continuing to hope.

There is something important we need to understand about these moments.

You can know God deeply and still reach the end of your own strength.

Even Moses Needed Someone to Hold Up His Hands

In Exodus 17, we find Moses standing with the rod of God in his hand while Israel fought against Amalek. As long as Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed, but when he lowered them, Amalek prevailed.

Eventually, Moses grew tired.

Exodus 17:12 tells us that Aaron and Hur brought a stone for Moses to sit on, and they stood on either side of him, holding up his hands until the sun went down.

Think about that for a moment.

This was Moses, a man God had called to lead His people, someone who had witnessed extraordinary demonstrations of God’s power.

Yet even Moses reached a point where he could no longer keep his hands raised without help.

Aaron and Hur didn’t question his faith. They didn’t tell him he should have been stronger, and they didn’t expect him to continue standing on his own.

They recognized that he was weary, and they came alongside him.

Sometimes we forget that part of the story.

We remember Moses standing with his hands raised, but we overlook the two men who helped him keep them there.

And perhaps there is something we need to learn from both sides of that moment.

Sometimes God calls us to be the person holding someone else’s hands, and sometimes we are the one who needs someone to hold ours.

Learning to Receive What We Have Given

For someone who has always been the strong one, receiving help can be surprisingly difficult.

We’re comfortable praying for other people, but asking someone to pray for us can feel uncomfortable. We can recognize when someone else needs encouragement, yet struggle to admit that we need it ourselves.

Sometimes we don’t even know how to explain what we’re feeling because there isn’t one particular problem we can point to. It’s the accumulation of years of responsibility, disappointments, unanswered questions, and concerns for people we love.

We may tell ourselves that other people have enough problems without hearing about ours.

But Galatians 6:2 doesn’t tell us to bear everyone else’s burdens while hiding our own. It tells us to bear one another’s burdens.

That means there is room for us to receive the same compassion, encouragement, and prayer that we have spent years offering others.

And receiving that support doesn’t diminish the faith we have spent a lifetime building.

It simply acknowledges that we were never meant to carry every burden alone.

When Your Own Strength Is Not Enough

Psalm 73:26 is especially meaningful because the psalmist doesn’t pretend that his strength is unlimited.

He openly acknowledges that his flesh and his heart can fail, yet he knows that God remains the strength of his heart.

That doesn’t mean every difficult circumstance immediately changes, or that weariness disappears simply because we know the right Scripture to quote.

Sometimes we still need rest. Sometimes we need someone to listen without trying to solve everything, and sometimes we need another believer to sit beside us and pray when we can’t find the words ourselves.

There is no shame in any of that.

God knows the difference between a heart that has turned away from Him and a heart that is simply exhausted.

So if you have spent years being the person everyone else depends on, perhaps today is a good day to recognize that you are allowed to need encouragement too.

You don’t have to wait until you are completely overwhelmed before telling someone that you’re struggling.

And if all you can manage to pray today is, “Lord, I need You,” that is still a prayer.

The same God who has helped you carry others has not forgotten that you need to be carried sometimes, too.

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A Prayer for the Strong One Who Is Weary

Heavenly Father,

You know how long I’ve been carrying some of these concerns, and You know the things I struggle to put into words.

I’ve tried to be strong for the people I love, but there are days when I feel like I have nothing left to give.

Lord, remind me that I don’t have to pretend I’m stronger than I am. Help me recognize when I need rest, and give me the humility to receive prayer and encouragement from others.

When I don’t know what to say, You already know what’s on my heart.

Be my strength when my own is not enough, and help me remember that I can depend on You just as surely as others have depended on me.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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A Thought to Carry With You

Being the strong one doesn’t mean you never need someone to stand beside you.

Even Moses needed someone to hold up his hands.

And needing someone to hold up yours doesn’t make you any less faithful.