Exodus 18 NLT
The next day, Moses took his seat to hear the people’s disputes against each other. They waited before him from morning till evening. When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “What are you really accomplishing here? Why are you trying to do all this alone while everyone stands around you from morning till evening?” (13-14)
I have been a leader in our missions organization for several years, and I have seen myself and others making these very same mistakes. Sometimes it takes an “objective outsider” like Moses’ father-in-law Jethro to see what others cannot. Moses thought he was helping by doing all the work himself. He thought that he was keeping other people from having to be in the middle of so many problems and he also thought that only “He” could really go before the Lord and judge properly in every dispute. What he called “helping” was actually just wearing himself out, and more importantly (what leaders often miss) he was also wearing out the very people he thought he was serving. If everything depends on you then you are not doing anyone any favors.
Many bible teachers use this passage to emphasize the importance of delegation, and that is definitely a timeless truth in this chapter. However, there are other things to note. One important point is that you sometimes have to say “no” to actually help. Making people dependent on you feels good and can feed your ego, but it doesn’t help them. Instead, it just creates long lines of people who don’t know how to think or act for themselves. Jethro encouraged him to delegate minor judgments to other leaders but he insisted he continue to “Teach them God’s decrees, and give them his instructions. Show them how to conduct their lives.” (v. 20) Doing the work for everyone is not as loving as teaching them how to do the work themselves so they partake of the responsibility and the blessing.
You see the end game was not just to have a bevy of judges who could judge the minor disputes. The end game was for there to stop being disputes at all! As the people learned to follow the law and as they learned to conduct their lives, the hope was that they would become more mature and know how to live with their neighbor without needing a judge. Even in the church today we see people who cannot get along and who need someone diplomatic to arbitrate their petty squabbles. Those cases do occur, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The more you disciple children of God and the more they grow in their understanding of how to conduct their lives, the less arbitration is required and the more grace is given. That is the goal, and it only happens through discipleship.
