Dealing with Exhaustion

17 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18 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. Exodus 18

I've said many times previously that we need to listen to God.  He speaks to us and leads us, and we need to be receptive, even though it may be outside of our comfort zone.  However, there are times where our interpretation may be a little bit off.  How do you know the difference?  It's tricky, but that's where your brothers and sisters in Christ can come to help.

Jethro was Moses' father-in-law.  He saw the burden that Moses had taken by being the sole judge for the Israelites.  That's a lot of people to handle.  I advise a group of 30 women and yes, there is drama there.  I can only imagine taking the number of people up to the thousands and being the sole person to handle disputes.  It'd be exhausting!  So Jethro gave him another way to handle the situation.  Appoint judges to handle the smaller disputes, and anything they can't figure out, pass along to Moses.

Does this stay in line with God's direction? Absolutely.  Does it make things more manageable for Moses so he can really devote his time and efforts towards those difficult to handle disputes?  Yes, it does.  Is Moses still doing God's will?  Yes!

Sometimes we need someone else to come in and talk to us to let us see that there is still another way to follow God's will.  I've been in the situation before where I knew God was pushing me in a certain direction, but I fought it.  It was too hard!  No matter what I did to try to follow his will, I was met with road block after road block.  It was exhausting, and I was exhausted with getting no where.  In a moment of panic (yes, that's how you know I'm exhausted) I called my mom and my aunt who both calmly talked to me about the situation and about how God was using me in this event.  They had a different perspective on the situation, so they could see a way that God was putting me in this position that hadn't occurred to me yet.  Ah-ha!

At times, we hit that same level of exhaustion.  We're focused on what God has asked of us that we don't stop to see that there are sometimes multiple ways to accomplish what he has asked of us.  Now, notice that I'm not saying you should find anyone to help give guidance, but to find someone close to you who is also a Christian.  They'll be able to keep leading you in a Christ-focused direction with your actions.  Use those other followers to help you along the way.