Words from the Weary Wilderness - Lenten Journey Day 4
posted on March 03
Day Four - Saturday, March 5
An Exhausted Leader
Read: Exodus 18:18-24
Jethro’s Advice to Moses
18 You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. 19 Now listen to me. I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You should represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases before God; 20 teach them the statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do. 21 You should also look for able men among all the people, men who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain; set such men over them as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 22 Let them sit as judges for the people at all times; let them bring every important case to you, but decide every minor case themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their home in peace.”
24 So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
Today’s Word from the Weary Wilderness: You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. (Exodus 18:18)
Reflection: It does not take long to get in over your head as a leader, so Moses is lovingly and firmly reminded by his father-in-law Jethro of the gravity of the task. Jethro gives him some-life giving advice: you can’t do this alone. In the wilderness, when things are tough, our own first thought is often to go it alone. That is not our best thought, and it is not God’s way. How might the delegation of crucial tasks on your journey help the people you love and serve to find their way to peace?
Prayer: God of the Wilderness, our temptation is to do the hard work alone. We must see this is not only unsustainable, we must also see it as unfaithfulness. We repent of that unfaithfulness. Help us to call upon the gifts of others. Amen.
Blessings of Peace and Health,
Bev
Rev. Beverly B. Coppley
District Superintendent
& Chief Missional Strategist
