14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
Too often in our attempt to help other people we end up doing more than we should. We want to help, so we step in and do too much. The general rule is that we only do what they can’t do. It they can do it, they should do it. During times of extreme crisis, say the death of a spouse or child, that rule can be suspended. But otherwise, we need to help people step up and face the challenge with someone at their side. Moses’ father-in-law recognizes that Moses is doing too much. There are other people who could and should be helping with this job of settling disputes. Moses is not the only one among the crowd with wisdom. My wife has helped me put some things down in the congregation where I serve. Both she and I have done too many things, thus not allowing others to step up and take responsibility for their part of congregational life. It is hard to step back and let others. We don’t want failure, but failure can be part of the learning process. Pain can be a great teacher. Moses is just trying to be the best leader he can be. He wants to help the people. The people look up to him as their leader, their wise leader. But in the process the people are standing, doing nothing waiting their turn. Also, others who could be helping are not being challenged to step up and help. Leadership is about building others up so that they can step into leadership roles of their own. We are all called to be leaders. Maybe we are only leading one person, but we are all leading. But we are also called to be followers. Everyone of us must follow the Lord, and everyone must follow some other people. We must be willing to step down and let others step up.
The Arnold Journey 