Links for today’s readings:
Read: Deuteronomy 1 Listen: (6:27) Read: 1 Corinthians 11 Listen: (4:20)
Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 1:12-13
12 But how can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself? 13 Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.
Reflection: Time to Go
By Erin Newton
A local pastor preached his final sermon recently after a nearly five-decade ministry. His story, however, is littered with covered-up scandals and evidence of abuse.
Across town, another pastor declared he would be stepping away from his role in ministry. The terms were peaceable, and the reasoning was untarnished by scandal, rumor, or dissent.
In another state, another pastor hands in her resignation letter after feeling the call to continue ministry in a different capacity. A plan is set to have her continue preaching for a few months. She sighs a relief, “This church has never known a peaceful transfer. This is a good thing.”
How is good leadership measured? Does a longer ministry mean more faithful service to God? Or does the refusal to leave indicate a desire to hold tightly to one’s authority?
After a weary and long trek in the wilderness, God calls Moses to leave Horeb. It is time for the next stage of God’s plan for his people. Moses recognizes the need for help. Deuteronomy 1 reads like a flashback of Exodus 18, when Jethro admonished Moses, “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” (Exod 18.18).
Now Moses sees the value in dividing his role and bestowing authority on others who can help. With this change, he would not bear all the burdens of people alone, and the people would have an available leader to go to with their problems.
With Moses’s education in the royal courts of Egypt, it seems odd that he would not have known how hard it is to lead a large group without help. Perhaps he felt it was his obligation, his calling, alone.
Like many of us, was he tempted to think he was the only one fit for the job? Did he assume that leading God’s people was something that made him irreplaceable?
The text never says. But we do know that he accepted advice, he humbly received the help, and the people were better for it.
As we look at the community of God’s people around us, are we seeing the potential leadership of people who are currently sitting on the sidelines? Are we viewing the younger generations not as strange nuisances, but as future leaders? Are we humble enough to step down when God calls us?
Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm
Praise the Lord, all you nations; laud him, all you peoples.
For his loving-kindness toward us is great, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Hallelujah! — Psalm 117
– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime
by Phyllis Tickle
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