37. Listen to advice

Whilst the Israelites were camped close to the mountain of the Lord, Moses alone handled all the conflicts of the people. He alone heard their cases and presented them before God to hear His answer and verdict. Can you imagine the burden that was on Moses? He alone had to handle all the disputes of two million people! That must have been grueling and extremely tiresome. I wonder if Moses ever had time to do anything else except listen to disputes all day long. The Bible says that the people were lined up in front of him from morning till evening.

Luckily Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, saw this desperate situation:

"This is not good! You're wearing yourself out - and the people too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself." Exodus 18:17, 18

Moses was quickly on his way to a nervous breakdown. No one would be able to bear a burden like that. Jethro was wise, and I believe inspired by God, to tell Moses to delegate his workload. He told Moses to appoint capable, honest men in charge of groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty and ten to handle the disputes of the people and only to approach Moses with the important/ difficult cases. Moses' time could then be freed to focus on more important, strategic issues and to seek God's face concerning the future of Israel.

Moses listened to his father-in-law and did exactly what he suggested. It is lovely to me that he did. He didn't consider himself too important to receive advice. No, he followed the advice and I personally think it saved him from getting totally worn out.

Sometimes we must be open to advice as well. We must never be too proud and think that we know it all, because we don't. We need other people's input; it might just save us a lot of heart ache. Plus don't be too attached to your position of authority that you don't want to share your workload with anyone else. God doesn't expect any of us to carry a weight above what we can bear. Our human bodies are frail and sooner or later will show the signs of overload. God cannot use us to the optimum if we are burnt out.

He wants to use us for certain responsibilities and if you don't share it, not only will you burn out; you will deny other people the opportunity to be part of a team for God. Don't be selfish, because at the end of the day not only you will suffer, but the work of God will suffer too. No, listen to sound biblical advice and share your burden with others, in order for you to be able to focus on God and all He has in store for you.

Dear Father, please forgive us if we think we are too important to receive advice/to delegate our work to others. We want to be free to worship You and have time to walk on the path You have prepared for us. Thank you Lord. Amen

Post a comment