The day has barely begun, and several people already need an answer.
Someone cannot find what they need. A decision at work is waiting for you. A family detail will be missed unless you remember it. Another person asks for help with something they could not carry alone.
None of this is imaginary. The needs are real. But over time, every question may have learned to travel through you.
Exodus 18 brings us into a day like that. Israel has come through thirst and battle in the wilderness. Moses has already worked with others: elders went with him to the rock, Joshua led people in battle, and Aaron and Hur held up his heavy hands. Then Jethro, Moses’ Midianite father-in-law, arrives. He hears about God’s deliverance, rejoices, worships, and shares a meal with Moses, Aaron, and Israel’s elders.
The next morning, Jethro sees a long line.
Moses is judging disputes and teaching God’s laws. The work is not trivial, and the people are not wrong for needing justice. Yet Moses is the only person hearing every matter. He sits while the people stand around him from morning until evening.
Jethro asks why. Moses explains the importance of the work. Then Jethro answers with unusual directness:
Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good. You will surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with you; for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to perform it yourself alone.”
Exodus 18:17-18, WEB
Jethro notices something Moses’ explanation does not: the arrangement is wearing away both Moses and the people.
When every answer depends on one person, she is not the only one who pays the cost. Other people wait, and those who could share the work may have no part in deciding it. A simple question can remain unanswered because the person everyone asks is already attending to something else.
Jethro does not tell Moses to stop caring. He tells him to keep representing the people before God and teaching them how to live. He also tells Moses to choose people of integrity who can judge ordinary cases, while difficult matters still come to him.
“So shall it be easier for you, and they shall share the load with you. If you will do this thing, and God commands you so, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.”
Exodus 18:22-23, WEB
The work is not discarded. It is shared.
This is an ancient account of justice, not a ready-made system for a modern home, church, or workplace. Not every responsibility can be handed to someone else. Some people have very little reliable help. Asking does not guarantee that another person will say yes.
But Exodus 18 still challenges the belief that faithfulness means becoming the only path through which care can travel. Moses has a distinct calling, yet even he listens when an outsider sees that the present arrangement is not good. He lets trustworthy people carry real authority, not merely assist while he keeps managing every detail.
Sometimes receiving help is not a retreat from love. It is one way love makes room for more than one person to become responsible.
Share One Defined Part
Choose one responsibility that returns every day or every week. Not the whole weight of your life. Just one repeated task that has quietly become yours alone.
Ask one capable person to own one defined part of it. Be concrete: “Will you make this appointment and keep the confirmation?” or “Will you lead this part of the project and make the decisions it requires?” Shared ownership means the other person is trusted to carry the part, not simply reminded at every step.
If no one is available, name that truth without accusing yourself. Lack of support is not proof that you were meant to carry everything. It is still a need worth seeing clearly.
Prayer
God, you know the people who need care, and you know the limits of my hands. Give me wisdom to recognize what is truly mine and humility to let another person carry what can be shared. Keep me from treating people as problems, and keep me from believing I must be every person’s answer. Form around us a community where responsibility is truthful, trustworthy, and shared. Amen.
Reflect
What recurring responsibility has become yours alone, and what one part could another trustworthy person carry?
Continue
Related: Loving Others Without Disappearing
Related: Boundaries, Caregiving, and Loving Your Neighbor
Next: The Guilt of Taking a Break
Scripture: Exodus 18:13-23, World English Bible.
Written by: Naomi Carter
Scope: This devotional offers Christian spiritual support and education. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, therapy, or crisis services.