#LENT2019 Day 16-17: Exodus 18
(For our lent devotional, we’ll be going through the book of Exodus with the rest of our church and be looking at the hand of God carrying the Israelites through their captivity and oppression as well as their sin and unbelief. Keep up with us as we look at how much God loves His people and never leaves us alone.)
First, read: Exodus 18.
We were never meant to do everything on our own.
This chapter deals with Jethro’s advice to Moses and the Midianites’ relationship with Israel through Moses’ wife and sons. After Moses sends his wife and sons to Midian to visit Zipporah’s father, Jethro, the high priest of Midian, Jethro sends word that he is taking Zipporah and the two sons to meet Moses and Israel in the wilderness. The first part of chapter 18 deals with the reunion that Jethro and Moses shares— and after a holy-war narrative with the Amalekites in chapter 17, chapter 18 is striking. Unlike the Amalekites, Jethro loves Moses, loves Israel, and worships God. This integration of multiple people through family is clear— God bridges different people together to enjoy God’s salvation and freedom as a family. But what we’re going to be focusing on today is what comes after Jethro has stayed with Moses for some time.
Jethro notices that Moses is the sole judge of Israel. All of Israel brings Moses their petitions and their quarrels, day to night, to inquire of God and settle all kinds of disputes. Jethro, appalled by all that Moses is doing, asks Moses what he’s doing. Moses explains his role in doing this: being a mediator between Israel and God. Jethro says to Moses,
“What you’re doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.”
Jethro then proceeds to advise Moses to delegate his responsibility of being judge of Israel to able men who fear God and would not take bribes, so that smaller matters may be settled and only bigger matters would be brought to them. As he gives this advice to Moses, Jethro says this:
“If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”
Moses does as Jethro says, and Jethro goes back peacefully to his own country.
This advice is not mentioned to be given to Moses through Jethro as divine word of God. Jethro is giving advice to Moses from his worldly experience of leadership. For whatever reason, through Israel’s time in the wilderness, Moses develops a clear problem early on in leading the nation here: he has a hard time delegating responsibility and sharing the burden of the nation’s needs with other members of Israel. During his short stay, Jethro sees holes in Moses’ logistic and administrative methods of leadership and points out the obvious: you can’t do all this work alone.
Jethro’s point is wise and clear: Moses will wear himself out trying to bear a burden that he wasn’t meant to bear alone. He cannot shoulder all the disputes and problems within relationships of Israel. But for Moses, who was the sole leader and mediator between Israel and God, this may have been a tough pill to swallow. After all, Moses was the only one that God used! How could he trust anyone else to do the job well? And in Jethro’s sharp and well-needed rebuke to Moses, his point is clear:
“Moses, you can’t do it on your own. You’re not the God of Israel— God is. You focus on God and let the people judge too. Give up some control and let others help you bear the burden of your responsibility.”
I don’t know about you guys, but this hits really close to home for me. So often do I find myself trying to fix all my friends (and sometimes, all of your) problems, trying to be there for every person and do everything because I know God will use me. But in that, it’s easy for me to get stuck in a Messiah complex and end up feeling like I need to save everyone myself.
But that’s not our job. That never was our job because we never had the power to save. That’s God’s job. And the sooner we let go of trying to do that and be that for everyone, the sooner we share the burden of being there with our brothers and sisters around us, the sooner we bear each others’ burdens, both ways, the better it is for everyone, because then God finally gets to be God and pull through.
Now, it’s not a bad thing for me or you to help out our brothers and sisters— in fact, that’s a wonderful thing. But we need to remember that God is ultimately the only one that does the actual saving, and we must remember to help not as the primary savior, but as a person to point others to the actual one who can Save. And honestly, that should free us to help others more, because we’re not the actual one that puts in the life-saving, life-transforming work— God is. And our God is way, way, way bigger, stronger, and better than we are.
We often also have responsibilities in our lives that lead us to be heavy-laden. Whether that be family troubles and responsibilities, work responsibilities, obligations, or even self-imposed duties (for example, the self-imposed feeling of needing to feed your family), sometimes, life— and all that comes along with it— can get really, really heavy. But in the midst of all that we bear, we must remember that we are limited and we are not God. We must let God step in and take control (because He is the only one in full control). We need to give up our pride and our stubborn hold on our lives so that God can finally do what He needs to do. And, practically, we need to let the people around us bear our burdens too. Just like what Jethro said to Moses,
“You cannot do it alone.” In this life, we cannot do everything and carry everything alone— we were never meant to.
Brothers and sisters, let each other in. Have hard, uncomfortable, honest conversations about your lives and share in bearing one another’s burdens. Let go on the stubborn grip you have over other people and over your own life and let God be God. May that free you to be more present for others. May this truth free you to work diligently, knowing that God honors your work and sees you through it all.
Love y’all. Happy almost Friday, everyone.
love,
janedo
