Delegate and Defer

When Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, saw the great number of people who came daily for Moses to settle disputes, he wasn't impressed with the sacrifice of time and energy.  Rather than extol how much Moses was willing to sacrifice for the people, he said instead, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone" (Ex 18:17-18).

Jethro went on saying that Moses should appoint reliable men over groups of 1,000s, 100s, 50s and 10s in order to divide out the labor for his own benefit and the benefit of the people who were waiting from morning to night for a very worn out leader to try and decide appropriately.  Only the most difficult cases would be held over for Moses allowing the people to be attended to more expeditiously and Moses to judge more fairly.

And then Jethro added, "If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” (v. 23).  The final and most important part of Jethro's plan was to defer it all to God.  If Moses would delegate the work and defer the responsibility to God, then God, if so willing, would bless the efforts.

It wasn't just a matter of making the best decision and following said plan; success was found in taking that plan to God, laying it at his feet and following his will on the matter.  Then all would be well with Moses and with the people for God will always do what is best and right.

Letting go and letting God, as the mantra goes, is not about taking a seat and letting God take care of everything.  It is to choose to do the right thing and then leave the outcome in His hands.  In Moses' case it was to entrust the work to others by delegation and then trust God by deferring to His Sovereign rule.  We would all do well to listen to Jethro.  Jus' Say'n.