TAKE A LOAD OFF

“’You will certainly wear yourself out – and not only yourself, but these people here with you as well. It’s too much for you – you can’t do it alone, by yourself.’”
Exodus 18:18

Delegation – I think this is one of the hardest words for me. First let me point out that it is not that I am a control freak, but that I feel like the job won’t get done the way I want it to. For example, when I was in high school I did a fair share of set decoration for the choir and theatre. Art was always one of those things that I enjoyed doing, and still do. I remember one show we were getting ready for that was a tribute to Broadway. When I was asked to do the set décor, I right away was thinking a country farm scene for Oklahoma, a lamppost for Singing in the Rain, and a little yellow brick road leading off into the distance for The Wizard of Oz just for starters. Being picky in who I allowed to help, I found myself many nights staying after school till almost 8pm the week before the show trying to get these scenes done. Finally, with only two days left and five more panels to go, I came to a point of being instructed by the choir director to let others help. It was one of the hardest things for me to do to tell people what the idea was and hope it came out well. And truth be told, it did. Although hard, the delegation and release paid off.
In a way, the same is true of Moshe. In the beginning Moshe was having people approach him with their problems. He would listen to them for hours, giving his counsel based on what Adonai was telling him. But the details of judgment were beginning to drain him. It wasn’t until Yitro saw what was going on that Moshe was gently rebuked. Yitro questioned why Moshe was spending hours a day listening as opposed to teaching people Adonai’s ways and having others listen to the needs and troubles of the people. Yitro spoke up and suggested that Moshe have competent men who were God-fearing settle the disputes. He suggested that only the hard cases should come to Moshe. In allowing this load to be taken off, Moshe would be, and finally was, able to endure and lead the people to their final destination peacefully. In knowing how for myself delegation helped to take a load off me, I wonder how many more of us could relax and move peacefully if we did the same today.

Exodus 18:13-23