Exodus 18

Moses sends his wife, Zipporah, and his sons ahead to where Jethro resides, presumably to warn him that he'll have to prepare a banquet for 600,000 ravenous guests who've been eating nothing but quail and graham crackers for weeks. Jethro decides he's going to have none of that, freeing himself of that obligation by coming out to where Moses and the Israelites are. Come to think of it, we don't hear a whole lot about Zipporah or Moses's sons. Was Moses just trying to be humble, not wanting to make Exodus a vanity book about how awesome his wife was and how his kids were valedictorians at Sinai High School, creating their own charities and discovering new chemical elements?

Even though Jethro isn't an Israelite, he still acknowledges God's providence and sovereign power in verses 10 and 11. What's even more impressive is that he didn't actually witness any of the miracles God performed. Contrast his reverent attitude with that of the Israelites. They were firsthand witnesses to every single act of supernatural phenomena wrought by God as well as every act of mercy and provision, yet I've lost count of how many times they've bleated and accused God of abandoning them. I've never witnessed any outright miracles along the lines of a parting sea--or across or skew to the lines of a parting sea, for that matter. Though I do have faith in God's existence, there's still plenty of room for my faith to grow.

Jethro ends up giving Moses one piece of advice: delegate some duties to other trustworthy people. In effect, Jethro led Moses to create one of the first religious bureaucracies.  Moses doesn't have to take the whole world upon his shoulders--if he does, it will tire him out and diminish his efficacy. I've heard many messages on how it's good to serve, but serving too much can make one forget the reason why one's serving. I once had to work nine days in a row, and boy, did I feel worn out and ineffective by the time the ninth day rolled around. I don't want to complain, since I do know some people work more than that, but it certainly didn't help that I'm an introvert and part of my job requires almost constant talking. Perhaps an extrovert would've had no problem talking for hours for that many days (and, by definition, that would actually energize them.)

It's fine to ask others for help and delegate tasks. I admit that I can have trouble asking others for help unless I know them really well, but that's more because I fear being turned down than because I feel like "only I can save the world." That's a completely different issue, so I guess that example doesn't work so well--but I'm too lazy to think of another one. Maybe I can delegate that task to someone else.