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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“At that time I said to you, ‘You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone. The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as many as the stars in the sky. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times and bless you as He has promised! But how can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself? Choose some wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.’”

“You answered me, ‘What you propose to do is good.’"

“So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you - as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials. And I charged your judges at that time: ‘Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien. Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of any man, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it. And at that time I told you everything you were to do.’"

Deuteronomy 1:9-18

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we continue to study from the first chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy, we find Moses continuing to address his fellow Israelites who were about to depart Horeb to journey to the land of Canaan, the land God had promised to give them. In today’s passage, we see where there was one other point of business that needed to be taken care of before they left for Moses had realized that he was only one man and Israel’s population had grown to epic proportions, affirmed by these words:

“The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as many as the stars in the sky.”

This exponential increase in people created a real leadership problem for Moses who confessed:

“You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone...How can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself?”

Indeed, if the Israelites were going to be cared for properly, including any disputes of problems that might arise, Moses realized that he was going to need some help. And so we find him proposing this solution to the people:

“Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you."

The people agreed with this plan of action and selected a group of people who were qualified. Then Moses appointed them into authority “as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials”. He then provided these newly minted leaders with the following direction:

“Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien. Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of any man, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.”

Through this account, we learn an important life lesson from Moses. For there will be times when the task at hand is too much for us and instead of doing nothing out of pride, we need to humble ourselves and ask for help. In the case of Israel’s leader, Moses quickly realized that trying to handle leading the entirety of Israel was more than he could handle alone and so he solicited assistance and got it from the tribes he was leading in the way of leaders he could delegate some authority to.

We see this occur in the New Testament as well. Consider this passage from the Book of Acts:

In those days, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."

This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. Acts 6:1-7

In this passage from Acts, we see the twelve apostles facing a similar predicament to what Moses faced. For we read where there were complains of inequity in the distribution of food to the widows in Jerusalem. This was important and needed addressed but the twelve apostles really needed to be focused on the Gospel mission Jesus had set upon them and so they asked for help. We see where they went to their fellow believers and tasked them to “choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom” and they carried out that request, picking Stephen, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas. The apostles then formally commissioned the seven men by praying for them as they laid hands upon them. This action was a forerunner of ordination services that we see in today’s church when elders and/or deacons are selected and brought into service.

The implementation of additional servants to deal with the social needs of the Jerusalem believers was a big success for the scriptures tell us that the “word of God spread” as the apostles dedicated their work to the cause of the Gospel and this resulted in the “number of disciples in Jerusalem” increasing “rapidly” with a “large number of priests” becoming “obedient to the faith”.

Friends, as we consider these words from God and ponder our own lives, my hope is that we will realize that we can’t make it through this life on our own. For as much as we want to be in control of everything, the Lord will teach us that this is a foolish endeavor as He leads us to a place where we reach out to Him and other for help, just as Moses and Jesus’ apostles did.

We need to know and trust that the Lord doesn’t want us to depend on ourselves but rather Him and His strength and power, the strength and power that led the Apostle Paul to know he could do all things with (Philippians 4:13). And when we do turn to Him for help, we can echo these words from the Psalmist who felt likewise when he wrote these words:

I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber;

Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you. The Lord is your shade at your right hand;

The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm. He will watch over your life;

The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Psalm 121

Brothers and sisters, the bottom line here is that none of us are strong enough to walk through this thing called life without help and so it is a great comfort and peace to know that our Lord is ever with us and walking alongside us in life, every step of the way.

Let us give thanks for the blessed assurance that is ours now and forevermore.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.