Exodus 18:24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.
Most of us don’t have a problem listening to advice, we have a problem actually doing what we are advised to do. Or is this just me! Have you ever refused good advice?
If your waistline is too large, then you have refused to do. We all know what we should be eating, and yet we eat too much of the wrong things. I know I do. Although my waist hasn’t grown in the last 10 years, I know I am still 15 pounds overweight.
I have been advised not to go over the speed limit when I drive. But I do. I try to travel at the speed of the surrounding traffic. But those pesky signs along the highway keep passing along the advice of the law.
We all need healthy connections with healthy people. And yet, for some, that advice hasn’t been heard. They hold onto people who are toxic to their lives. Even when they are being poisoned, they swallow what those toxic people are giving them, as though it was a required meal.
It can be hard to admit that we don’t have all the wisdom we need. Even those who ‘should’ know what they are doing need advice from others from time to time. But it takes a certain kind of person to gladly accept advice and then do it.
When I was an officer in the US Army, I came to a point when I realized that I wasn’t suited for the next level of leadership. I could do it, but it would have pushed my personal resources to the breaking point. For some it was easy. But for me, it was a stretch.
Moses was just such a man. He was educated in the royal circles of Egypt, the leading culture of that day in that part of the world. He didn’t lack wisdom given by that culture. He knew the maxims that were part of that society.
But he also had a second culture that gave him wisdom. He had been nursed by his mother, a Hebrew woman. He had been taught his heritage and the wisdom of this second culture from his birth. He didn’t lack wisdom.
And yet, when he is faced with the challenge of leading the masses of Hebrews after leaving Egypt, he acts as though he is running a mom and pop ice cream shop instead of a multinational corporation. He hasn’t adapted his style of leadership to the current circumstances.
His father-in-law brings some seemingly obvious advice at just the right moment in time. And Moses accepts the advice and puts it into practice. The new fledgling nation is better for that move.
But Moses had to be willing to accept the advice. He had to be willing to admit that he needed help. He could have just continued to push forward, struggling through, until exhaustion or collapse happened. But he didn’t.
Is there an area of your life that could use some advice, some guidance, an extra set of eyes? If there is, go seek it out. And then do what is advised.