{"id":19778,"date":"2022-01-11T22:00:26","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T05:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/exodus-18_1-12-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-01-07T18:40:44","modified_gmt":"2022-01-08T01:40:44","slug":"exodus-18_13-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/exodus-18_13-27\/","title":{"rendered":"Something to Lighten Your Load"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exodus 18:13-27 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Exodus 18:13-27.\u00a0 here are a few other lessons we can learn from this passage.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Exodus 18:13-23 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and laws.”
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.<\/em>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Listen 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.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But 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.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Have 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.<\/em>
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 13-23:\u00a0\u00a0Jethro saw that as good intentioned as Moses was, it was not healthy or advisable for Moses to be a one man show and to personally judge every case that the people brought to him.\u00a0\u00a0This would wear Moses out and it would also wear the people out in terms of making them wait far too long.\u00a0\u00a0Jethro saw the inefficiencies in Moses\u2019 system and suggested a better way, encouraging Moses to focus his role on teaching the people (v20) and representing the people before God (v19) and to delegate authority to trustworthy individuals with good character to deal personally with the people\u2019s individual problems (v21-22).\u00a0\u00a0Jethro\u2019s goal was to lighten Moses\u2019 load (\u201cthis will make your load lighter\u201d), to raise up leaders who would be accountable to Moses and who could help share the work (\u201cthey will share it with you\u201d), and to create a better experience for everyone so that \u201call these people will go home satisfied\u201d (v23).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the biggest thing holding us back is trying to do too much by ourselves.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0God never intended you to be a one-person show.\u00a0\u00a0He made you to be part of a bigger team so that the workload can be shared, younger leaders can be raised up, and more can be done better and more quickly.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s why teamwork, delegation, and focusing your role over time are key, especially as your organization, team or family grow.\u00a0\u00a0Is there something you\u2019re trying to do all by yourself when the better thing might be to involve others and share the load? Who is someone trustworthy with potential whom you can empower to help with this instead of you doing it all by yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, I like how Jethro said, \u201cIf you do this\u00a0and God so commands<\/em>\u2026\u201d (v23).\u00a0\u00a0In other words, Jethro maintained some humility when giving his advice.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s as if Jethro was saying, \u201cDon\u2019t just take my word for it.\u00a0\u00a0Pray about it and if you sense a go ahead from God, then go for it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0In other words, instead of imposing his will on Moses, Jethro still respected Moses\u2019 role as the leader of Israel and left it open to Moses to prayerfully decide what to do.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise,\u00a0when giving advice to others, do so with humility.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Respect the person\u2019s freedom to make their own decisions.<\/p>\n

Exodus 18:24-27 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 24-27:\u00a0\u00a0Moses follows his father-in-law\u2019s advice and it made a big difference.\u00a0\u00a0Keep in mind, as we discussed yesterday in Exodus 18:1-12, that Jethro was probably a new believer in the LORD.\u00a0\u00a0Though he was a priest in Midian, he had just recently come to acknowledge the LORD as being greater than all other gods.\u00a0\u00a0Yet Jethro gave some advice to the top leader of Israel that helped that top leader and the nation of Israel tremendously.\u00a0\u00a0It goes to show:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Even if you are a new believer in the Lord, God can use you in important ways to build and grow His kingdom.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Like Moses, have the humility to listen to and learn from others, even if they are much less experienced than you are.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that You didn\u2019t make me to be a one person show, but to work together with others.\u00a0\u00a0I pray that I would not wear myself out, or wear others out, by trying to do things all by myself.\u00a0\u00a0I pray that I would have the humility to listen to and learn from others, and especially to You, believing You always have a better way.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Exodus 18:13-27.\u00a0 here are a few other lessons we can learn from this passage.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Exodus 18:13-23 (NIV)
\n13\u00a0\u00a0The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening.
\n14\u00a0\u00a0When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
\n15\u00a0\u00a0Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will.
\n16\u00a0\u00a0Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and laws.”
\n17\u00a0\u00a0Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good.<\/p>\n

On verses 13-23:\u00a0\u00a0Jethro saw that as good intentioned as Moses was, it was not healthy or advisable for Moses to be a one man show and to personally judge every case that the people brought to him.\u00a0\u00a0This would wear Moses out and it would also wear the people out in terms of making them wait far too long.\u00a0\u00a0Jethro saw the inefficiencies in Moses\u2019 system and suggested a better way, encouraging Moses to focus his role on teaching the people (v20) and representing the people before God (v19) and to delegate authority to trustworthy individuals with good character to deal personally with the people\u2019s individual problems (v21-22).\u00a0\u00a0Jethro\u2019s goal was to lighten Moses\u2019 load (\u201cthis will make your load lighter\u201d), to raise up leaders who would be accountable to Moses and who could help share the work (\u201cthey will share it with you\u201d), and to create a better experience for everyone so that \u201call these people will go home satisfied\u201d (v23).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19781,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19778"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19779,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19778\/revisions\/19779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}