Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
"The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?" Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws." Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied." Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves. Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country." Exodus 18:13-27
You’ll recall that Moses was leading a group of "about six hundred thousand men…besides women and children…(and) many other people…as well as large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. (Exodus 12:37b-38). You will also remember that this group was as large as the total population of Alaska or North Dakota. (Blog entry: Wait On The Lord…January 5th, 2008).
Now, imagine you’re leading this group and trying to keep everyone satisfied. We’ve already seen signs that at least a portion of the group lack sincere faith in the God who miraculously delivered them from Egypt. In fact, you’ll remember that those grumblers actually considered it better under oppression and slavery than free and fulfilling the Will of God. They question your leadership and consistent thorns in your side. There are also other disagreements as well among the people. In order to keep the peace, you decide you must do something. So you choose to serve as a judge over any dispute so you can resolve issues and hopefully maintain some sense of unity and accord amongst your people. Can you imagine resolving all disputes among over 600,000 people? Truly, it was not a very well conceived plan and was destined to fail miserably unchecked.
Enter Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. Older and much wiser, he advises Moses to "be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied." Jethro sees that Moses is about to set himself up for failure and quickly does two things.
First, he tells Moses that his concern is valid. The people need to be heard and represented before God. They also needed instructed on the decrees and laws…on the way they should live to fulfill their duties.
Secondly, Jethro lets Moses know he can’t succeed in this plan working alone. There are way too many people and he couldn’t possibly hear every dispute in any one single day. Moses needed to select "capable men from all his people… and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens." In other words, Moses needed to delegate authority, assigning selected representatives over manageable divisions of his people so all concerns were addressed. And this didn’t mean that Moses had to surrender the unique, holy responsibility for Israel that God had placed on him. For they were to "bring every difficult case" to Moses for decision while solving the simple cases themselves. In the end, Moses would be "able to stand the strain, and all (his) people (would) go home satisfied."
Question: How often have you been overwhelmed by taking too much on? We have a tendency to want to do it all ourselves, afraid to share the strain of our responsibilities with others. Maybe you’re a homemaker who has to do every single chore around the house so it is done just right and find yourself driven to the point of exhaustion every day. Or maybe you’re a worker who can’t seem to find enough hours in a day to complete all assignments or initiatives so you consistently work countless hours of overtime at the expense of your family life and your own physical and mental well being. And in both of these cases and countless others like them, tasks become a greater priority than the only One who can help guide and advise you through them to success. We find ourselves neglecting our spiritual life at the expense of worldly satisfaction or success.
Thank goodness God sent Jethro to Moses to help ensure he could "stand the strain" of his immense responsibility. And thank goodness we have this account in the Word so we too can be advised. Is the Lord speaking to you this day? Are there places in your life where you need to delegate and seek help toward accomplishing responsibilities? In the case of the homemaker, chores can be distributed to other family members and all you need to do is check to make sure the work is getting done. In the case of the worker, portions of your assignment or initiative could be shared by other fellow co-workers who would do their respective parts in support of collective success. Either way, the job gets done all the same and one finds they have more time on their hands to give attention to their own physical and spiritual well being. There is time freed up now for prayer and bible study. You can get to bed sooner to ensure you have adequate rest to get through the next day. So many benefits…but you have to delegate to realize them.
Well, we read where Moses listened to Jethro and "did everything he said." He "chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens…(and) they served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves." A pending disaster had been averted because Moses listed to wise counsel.
Question: Has someone told you of late that you need to take a look at your life and try to free more time up for family, spiritual fulfillment and rest? Do you try and burn the proverbial candle at both ends and in the middle? I have to confess to you that I need to get better in this area. This scripture and my wife (my modern day "Jethro") are just what I need to remind me that I’m just one person and can break down under the strain of my responsibilities. I see the need to make some changes in this new year to free up more time for my family, myself and my God. I can accomplish it by delegating more just like Moses did. How about you? Where do you stand?
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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