40 years of living day to day…
I want you to pay close attention to the endless cycle of complaining, crying out to God and God providing. It is a seemingly endless cycle. No matter how many times God provided, they still thought that Moses had doomed them all to a certain death.
God did not allow them to ever have more than they needed. They needed food: Manna and Quail provided…just enough each day, no more and no less. Try to store it up and it becomes infested with maggots. They needed water: God used a piece of wood and a rock to fulfill their needs. Actually, God used a faithful, willing servant, named Moses, to work through to fulfill their needs. God did not make the water turn sweet or flow from the rock spontaneously (although he certainly could have). Rather, he chose to reveal his glory through one of his children.
Much of the reading today continues to highlight the gifts you have already seen, time and time again, in Moses. However, Chapter 18 brings enhanced revelation of “Visionary and Managing Leadership.” Moses was already operating in this gift because Ex 18:13, “The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people,” tells us this is not a new thing, but it has been going on since their time together. But it gets better. Jethro, remember this is Moses’ father-in-law, the priest who gave him a daughter to marry back in our earlier readings; offers advice to Moses. Now listening to advice and knowing how to discern it and make use of it requires the concert of multiple gifts Moses already possesses. This is exponentially true when it is your father-in-law providing the advice. (note of humor)
Moses had been doing what God had called him to do. As a “boss” once told me:
“You don’t need to work harder. You need to work smarter.”Jethro was telling Moses the same thing. Too often we hear from God and think we have to do it all. There are “leaders” and there are “doers.” Many times, it takes a “doer” a long time to become a leader and, more often than not, they never make the connection and cross over to the true role of leader. Moses was working hard. Jethro, no doubt sent and inspired by God, told Moses how to work smart.
Note: 2 years after entering the desert, Numbers 1:46 tells us there were 603,550 men, age 20 and older who could serve in the Israelite army. Imagine the number of younger men, elderly men, total women and children who accompanied that number of people. Even if you just doubled that number, which is a very low and inaccurate number, there would be 1.2 million people with Moses. The City of Dallas has 1.2 million in population and it is the 9th largest city in the U.S. If we even conservatively guess 1.8 million people that is the population of North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Hawaii COMBINED! Moses was the judge of them all. No wonder they were standing, “around from morning till evening.”
Taking this advice, Exodus 18:25-26
25 “He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.”
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