Thou Art Not Able – Part One
Submitted by Ted Mock
April 24, 2024
Ex 18:17-18 And Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. 18 Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.
The story of Moses and his father-in-law meeting on the wilderness journey is but one of many times the Bible gives us principles of leadership that we need to apply to the ministry today.
For example, Numbers is a book devoted to organizing Israel as an army, ready for war, with capable leadership. Solomon, in the last few chapters of I Chronicles, organizes his kingdom and delegates to capable men to help administrate the country. From Joshua leading the people after the death of Moses, through the return to the land during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, we see the principle of organization and delegation.
Christ, our ultimate example, organized His Church, and in the Great Commission, delegated authority to carry out the task He assigned to us.
When given a task that seems impossible—organization and delegation are keys to success. In the cases I just mentioned, each of the men cited were given jobs that were impossible for one individual by himself to accomplish. Leading a nation out of captivity through a wilderness desert, conquering the Promised Land, running a kingdom, and rebuilding a city and a great temple, were all tasks beyond the power of one man.
All those examples pale in comparison with the Great Commission given to the Church to go and win the world. It seems to be impossible, but an old preacher once told me that God has given every generation everything it needs to reach their generation with the gospel. He said that today we have tools and technology no other generation has had to get the gospel out to a world with over seven billion people.
So, why are we failing? I believe that we have not come to the place where we say, “We are not able.” In John Chapter 15, Jesus said, “without me ye can do nothing…” Our programs, work efforts, talents, or personalities are not what we lack.
We lack the power of Christ! Which leads us to the reason why we fail to follow the principles of Biblical organization and delegation. We want to do it alone so we can get the glory for any success we see. But God will share His glory with no man.
More on this subject in part two.
Thought – Moses showed wisdom in listening. He restructured the organization; divided the workload into smaller units; and delegated more work to others.
