Delegate

¹³ The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. ¹⁴ When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”

¹⁵ Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. ¹⁶ Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, an I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”

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. ¹⁹ Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. ²⁰ Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. ²¹ But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. ²² Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. ²³ If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” - Exodus 18:13-23

Here, Moses learns to delegate.  I find this an amazing story because of Moses' background.  How had he not learned to delegate while a student in Egypt.  They had an obvious command structure.  I would assume that he would copy their system.  But he didn't.  And here he is, completely overwhelmed with trying to lead the people by himself.  He is their spiritual leader and their lawgiver as the chosen one of God to lead the people.

"Sometimes the better part of valor is learning we need to ask for assistance." says Tony Dungy.  Sometimes, this is the hardest thing to do.  I know how I want it done and I know I can do it, if I only had enough time.  "What you are doing is not good" says Moses' father-in-law.  And if we try to do everything ourselves and are not willing to involve others in every aspect of our busy lives, what we are doing is not good.  We can't be the expert at everything.  I often consider that I can't even be good at everything and sometimes anything. 

It is important to be willing to involve others to be better at some things and to be able to have influence in the lives of others.  "I realized in my own process of delegating that I was adding value to the lives of my friends - of people I respected and admired and, perhaps more important, people I had a responsibility to help to become all they could be."  We are here to add value to the lives of others.  The best way to add value to someone is to introduce them to Jesus Christ who came here for their sins and can thereby establish a value upon them that is more than they will ever be aware of apart from Him.  The next way is to allow them to be a part of our own initiatives and to get the reward for accomplishing work.  In this way they can see, or we can see, the character of God in each other and two or more can spread that much faster than one.

We must be willing to give up some control and delegate to others.  It pours our life in others and it allows them to pour their life into others.