Help!

It's been a crazy birthday running around all day from party to party (none of which were for me) with really no down time. I should be working on my Sunday School lesson, but I wanted to get this blog done first.  And once I have something I want to get done, I really can't focus on any other task until it is completed, so not blogging first is really a waste of time.

Last night I was reading/studying Exodus 18.  At that time Moses was going to God on behalf of all of the Israelites and had given himself the job of resolving any disputes or arguments between them and taking those burdens on himself. In verses 14 through 17 Jethro asks Moses what he is doing and why he has put this upon himself while all the other Israelites sit around and do nothing basically. Jethro tells him he is crazy for trying to do all that by himself and he needs help or needs to delegate.  A couple of things stuck out to me.

1. The verses don't really say where Moses got this job from. I wonder if he gave it to himself or if God put it on his heart or if it was something he felt needed to be done so he took it upon himself to do it. I really believe that there are things God places on our hearts to do that we take and run with, to the point that when the job grows beyond our capacity, we continue to do it all without delegating because we believe that is what God intended.  God never intended for us to be stretched so thin that we aren't affective for his kingdom. We need to learn to fully realize that if God calls us to something and it grows to the point of being way beyond what we can handle, it is okay to ask God for help, to send someone to come along side. Remember, that thing God has given you, yeah, it isn't yours, it's God's and if you are doing it for him, he will provide you with some help so you don't have to do everything by yourself. He doesn't want you to carry everything by yourself.

2. Jethro, Moses' Father-in-law, had to tell Moses he had taken on too much and needed to delegate.  I am sure he knew it and he felt it, but either didn't want to delegate or tried to convince himself he was fine. Delegating what God has given you (or even a piece of it) to someone else is hard. Because its hard to trust other people and easier to just do it yourself. (This goes with normal life too and not just spiritual stuff.) Sometimes we are so deep in the weeds (or really believe the need we are meeting won't be met if we don't do it) that we can't or won't get help. Getting help, and training takes time. I get that. And change is hard.

Have you ever thought that someone else may need to be needed? That God wants to use that thing to grow someone else spiritually, like he did you when you first started? That getting help isn't just about you but it also for the benefit of the kingdom and other Christians?

I know this is me preaching to myself as much as anything else, but it still needs to be said. Because getting help doesn't mean we are failures or inadequate. It means God is ready to grow us and others around us by changing things up.

Growth never occurs if life stays status quo. If the same people keep doing the same jobs the same way without any fresh revelation from God, it is much harder for God to move us up as a body. But when he is able to move us where he needs us for the moment, he cause us to train others to come along beside or with us. And growth and change will come.