The
challenge Moses had was a mammoth one. He was not just leading a huge number of
people, in fact, he was leading a nation. Here he was leading some two million
of imperfect men, women, and children, drew out of bondage. People who were
progressing but not fully accustomed to the new lifestyle as yet. From what we
know about them so far, they were not an easy lot to lead. Complains and
murmuring were their usual reaction to every problem they encountered. Yet we
cannot deny that God had always ordained Moses as their leader. He was
empowered and given the leadership mantle. He was their teacher concerning the
ways of God and also their mediator in times of their disputes. Yet as capable
as Moses was, he didn’t realize that he was not a machine and he could not
effectively fulfil his leadership task alone. It took Jethro to point that out
to him.
Moses
was the sole mediator for all the disputes the children of Israel had at this
point of time. And knowing the level of the maturity of the people, we can
understand why he had to spend the whole day from morning to evening settling
disputes. How he went about dealing with the disputes the people had with each
other was the perfect recipe for a burn-out. We surmise that Moses who had a
good heart would like to settle everyone’s problem by himself. But was it
realistic? Apart from God, no one can bear all the problems of others alone.
Besides, if the situation persists, there could be a tendency for a leader to
feel that he alone must be involved in everyone’s problem. Such a leader tends
to falsely feel that he alone has the solution to everyone’s problem.
Unknowingly, he would soon develop a messiah’s complex, thinking that he has
the solution to every need. This would unwittingly raise the expectation of the
followers. And before long we would see they clamour for the attention of the
leader alone even though someone else could quite easily help them deal with
it.
God
must have allowed Jethro to come at this point of time to help Moses see how
foolish it was to try to manage everyone’s problem by himself. Because of his
relationship with Moses, Jethro the older and wiser man could provide a reality
check for him. This reminds us that we need people in our lives to help us have
a clearer perspective of how we can be more effective. God will provide a
“Jethro-like” person in our life to help us progress with Him. Don’t ever
develop the attitude that we don’t need the help or the advice of another
person. It was never the intention of God for us to go solo. We need to learn
to surface others with skills to help with the ever-expanding work of
God.
Bear
in mind that in God we live in the community of the redeemed. Growth is best
experienced in the community. We are placed together within the body to sharpen
and hone each other’s walk in the Lord. God has also given us different
giftings to complement what each one of us has and supplement what we may lack.
It is never the intention of God to have one man bear the weight and burden of
the whole ministry. There will always be one person whom God would empower to
bear the burden of the ministry but he would also be given others to help him.
We must approach the ministry with the understanding that one-man show will
always cause the leader to suffer a burn-out. The leader must not think that he
alone must bear the burden. There will always be different levels of need and
we put people in place based on their competence. The ordained man of God
should be the resource person. To avoid needless clamouring for his attention,
only cases that others cannot deal with should be attended to by him. This
would enable the whole community to become interdependent and grow as God
intends. Don’t be a one-man show if we want to be effective in ministry. Get
others to share the load!
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