Exodus 18

So often, we spend ourselves in doing. We continually find ourselves doing, doing, doing. Before chronic illness, it may have looked like this: Sunday: church; Wed: serving with the youth; in between: serving excessively wherever I found myself. One of the biggest things that hits me is discernment. We need discernment in knowing where the Lord is leading us to serve. We are not meant to meet every need. We need to pray and wait on God. God may be leading us to not serving in that area, because God has a specific person to join Him there to build up His Kingdom. Our biggest mistake is in doing without seeking God's awesome guidance!

Thinking about on the last few months, I worry about those who continually spend themselves without seeming to have their time to recharge. We need to wait on God, seeking His face, and seeing how He is wanting us to serve Him. It is not to be a "what can I do for God today", but a "How does God want to use me today". The difference is monumental-seeking to depend on God!

Moses realistically is not much different from today's pastors and servants of Christ. He continually gave himself to God, to Israel. God spoke greatly to Moses through Jethro (Moses' father-in-law). Let us read what God wants to speak also to us!

Wise, fatherly advice:

Jethro knew how God had been working--delivering Moses and Israel. God brought Israel out of Egypt (vs 1). Moses trusted Jethro and God, so Moses' family (wife and two sons) were sent to Jethro to be cared for. In this passage, Jethro and Moses' family were coming back to him (vs 2-7). God was providing for Moses and his family. He brought protection upon Moses' family!  In this area, I know we need to be like Moses. We need people we know we can trust with our family. So if for any reason we need help, we have others who will be there for us!

Now, for the godly advice:

Moses had a special relationship with Jethro. They had a deep relationship. They had a steady, firm relationship where they could confide in one another and be honest. We need that kind of accountability, where we can freely turn to one person with whom we can talk to about what is going on in our lives. This is exactly what Moses is doing starting in verse 8. We need someone to talk to about the good that we see God doing in our lives. Are we getting to share about the good that God is doing in our lives? Or, are we so concerned with the bad: the things that don't make sense? (talking about what is honestly going on in our lives is essential as we are seeking other believers' guidance, but let not the work of God pass us by!) This is what strengthens our faith~ talking about what God is doing! (See vs 11)  It led them to worship God together! We can talk about the good God is doing, praising Him together, and it could led us into a place of worship--worshiping the Lord together!

Jethro saw all that Moses was doing. He was the judge for the people, so from morning to evening he served as the judge as people sought God's Will. Read Jethro's advice to Moses in verse 17-23:

17 [Jethro] replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18 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. 19 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. 20 Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. 21 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. 22 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. 23 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 followed his father-in-law's instructions, and I bet Moses was mightily blessed as he carried out this new way of taking care of Israel. We may not be Israel, but we are Christ's bride: we are the Church. Jesus Christ came to save us! We are not meant to go at serving alone. More importantly, it is not the pastor's job to do all the work. We need to share the load, letting everyone go home satisfied. The pastor's job is to equip the saints (See Eph 4:11-16). The pastors are there to lead us, direct us, help us, and offer their discernment and counsel. Moses was brought the hard cases for him to judge. Why don't we allow our pastors to equip us, so we can be used to serve in God's Kingdom?

Given what we have in front of us, how can we better serve? How can we lighten our load, but give God our best? How can we serve Him more readily without burning out? Think it really boils down to discernment and seeking God's will in how we serve Him. Serving is good, but we can get 'caught up' in serving at times. (See Mary and Martha passage)