Exodus 16:1-19:25
Exodus 18:14, 17-18, "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 to evening? ... This is not good! ... You're going to wear yourself out - and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself.'"
"If I want something done right, I'd better do it myself." How many times have you thought that? We literally train our brains to think we're the only ones capable of doing a good job, and we run ourselves ragged, juggling and struggling to keep up with our already over-packed schedules. We wear busyness like a badge of honor. But, what is it really? Pride.
Moses thought he was the only one capable of settling people's disputes. How exhausting! Fortunately, his father-in-law was visiting and shined a light on the situation. Moses was a great leader who needed to learn the art of delegation to take his leadership to a whole new level!
Great leaders delegate work to others - not to avoid working, but to free themselves up for the most important tasks. This was Jethro's main point. He recognized that Moses was so buried in the details that he was losing sight of the big picture. What if he had been so busy settling disputes that he had missed out on receiving the Ten Commandments?
Are you like Moses? If so, it's time to let go of pride and delegate tasks to others. Whether you're a mom who needs to give some chores away to your kids or a CEO who needs to entrust a future executive, it's time to take off the busyness badge and lighten your load to free yourself up for bigger and better opportunities!
Dear Lord, Today, I take off my busyness badge and relinquish my pride. Guide me to be a wise leader and open myself up for opportunities to be used by You! Amen.