Who Is On The Lord’s Side?

Listen to Today’s Passage – Exodus 30 – 32 

Follow along on Blue Letter Bible – Exodus 30

(Second Milers also read – Luke 15 – 16; Proverbs 30; Psalms 146 – 150

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 55:17

Read the “0130 Evening and Morning” devotion for today by Charles Spurgeon.

Read a previous post from this passage – “Called, Equipped, and Filled.“

Today’s Scripture Focus: Exodus 32

“And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” – (Exodus 32:11-14)

“And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. … And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.” – (Exodus 32:19-20, 25-26)

“And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin–; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” – (Exodus 32:31-32)

The Golden Calf Incident

Moses was a great leader; a strong leader. He not only had to obey God and implement His laws, but he also had to work with a congregation that often resisted those laws and would often complain about every decision that was made. Moses was often blamed for any problems that Israel faced as they wandered through the wilderness those forty years. Though Moses struggled at times, he never stopped loving and obeying His Lord, and He never quit serving the people that He was called to serve, even when it was very difficult.

In our story, we learn that Moses was up on Mt. Sinai with the Lord receiving the Word of God. Moses was with Lord and away from the congregation for a long time, and because the people thought that he possibly was never coming back, they began to put the pressure on Aaron (Moses’ brother) to lead them in Moses’ absence. The problem was that Aaron was not the strong leader that Moses was, and he gave in to all of the whims and wishes of the people. The people literally “heaped to themselves” a leader that would give them what they wanted rather than what was right. So, in just a few short weeks after Moses left the congregation to meet with God, we see the congregation of Israel abandoning all of the principles that they had learned from God through Moses. The people were now creating their own god – a golden calf.

Moses’ Leadership in the Crisis

When God reveals to Moses what is going on with the people down in the valley, Moses immediately begins to intercede on behalf of the people. He begs God not to destroy the people. It would have been very easy for Moses to irrationally desire that God get rid of the people and start over again, but Moses loved the people that God had entrusted to his care, and he did not want to see any harm come to them. However, when Moses finally gets down to the people, he literally throws a fit of righteous indignation and he takes the hard steps that were necessary to root the evil out of the congregation. Ultimately, 3,000 people were put to death. I am sure that Moses had some friends and maybe even family members among the group that were killed as a result of his order, but he did what he had to do in order to save the entire congregation. That is leadership. Leaders are not always popular, but they are willing to do what is right at the risk of losing some people.

Notice in vv. 31 – 32, after Moses dealt with the people, he is back with God interceding for the people he loved. He even goes as far as to tell God that if He wouldn’t forgive the people then God should blot Moses out of “thy book that thou hast written.”  That is love, and that is leadership. Leaders are not only brave, willing to stand for what they believe, but they are also compassionate and patient.

Joshua faced similar battles and also proved to be a strong leader. He drew a line in the sand and offered his congregation the same choice:

“14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. “15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Josh 24:14–15)

Our Lord, Jesus, was also a very strong leader. Though He loved people and was full of compassion for them when they fell into sin, He also had to fight against a religious culture that was very resistant to changes in their extra-biblical traditions and extremely intolerant to anyone who dared violate or even question them. 

Application for Today

Unfortunately, there is a serious famine of strong leadership in our culture today. Moses, Joshua, and Jesus risked unpopularity to confront sin and resist the challenges from those who attempted to lead the people away from the will of God. Modern leaders must also sometimes say “no” to cultural pressures, even if it costs them followers or approval. They must also be willing to stand against those who would attempt to promote their own agenda. We need more of this type of strong leadership in our country today. We need it in our churches, and we need it in our families. Too many leaders today are politicians like Aaron that only want to score points with people. They don’t want to risk their popularity by standing on principle.

“God, give us some men and women that will be willing to make the hard decisions that need to be made in order to do what is right. Give us men that will fight evil and will stand on the principles of the Word of God. God, give us some strong leaders.”

  • Have you faced pressure to compromise your faith?

  • Have you been forced to biblically re-examine issues and make unpopular decisions in light of a changing culture?

  • How can you lead with Moses-like courage this week?


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Avoiding Ministry Burnout: A Lesson from Jethro Regarding Delegation

Listen to Today’s Passage – Exodus 16 – 18

Follow along on Blue Letter Bible – Exodus 16

(Second Milers also read – Luke 5 – 6; Proverbs 25; Psalms 121 – 125

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 34:1 – 4

Read previous posts from this passage – “Murmuring” and “Remember Sunday.”

Read the “0125 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today by  Charles  Spurgeon.

“And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses’ father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? … 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. … If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said.” – (Exodus 18:13-14, 18, 23-24)

Jethro’s Observation

In our passage today, we see that Moses gets a visit from his father-in-law who is not an Israelite but apparently had placed his faith in the Lord (see Exodus 18:11 – 12). While visiting with Moses, Jethro got a chance to observe the day-to-day ministry of his son-in-law and determined that Moses was doing way more than any man could handle by himself. Moses was judging and advising the large congregation of Israel all by himself from early in the morning until late at night. Moses, like many leaders, apparently felt that he was the only one who could do the job right, so he did it alone. However, Jethro knew that if Moses kept up that pace without getting any help, he would wear down physically and eventually would become less effective at what God had called him to do.

Jethro’s Advice

Jethro advised Moses to allow other godly men within the congregation to share in the burden that Moses was carrying. Moses would still be in charge, and he would handle all the important matters, but others would be assisting him in dealing with the day-to-day decisions within the congregation. This advice given by Jethro helped in several ways:

  1. Moses got the help that he needed, which freed him up to dedicate more time and do a better job in the more important matters.
  2. Moses was probably less stressed and better rested than before.
  3. The congregation was served better. Even though Moses may have been able to do a better job than most of his helpers, he certainly could not get as much accomplished as all of them together. More was getting more done.
  4. Leaders were being developed within the congregation. People need to be given opportunities to serve if they are going to be able to grow.
Application

If our ministries are going to get all the help that they need today to fulfil the will of God, more people than just the pastor are going to have to be involved. The pastor must work at developing leaders and delegating responsibility. This is why discipleship and developing mentoring relationships is critically important. Paul told Timothy:

“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” (2 Tim 2:2)

Caution: Always Filter Advice Through God

A secondary thought from this passage is that Moses was willing to listen to advice, even from a guy that was not an Israelite and may not have been a believer very long. Pride will sometimes keep us from listening to sound wisdom. God will often use people to teach us things, even people from different spiritual perspectives. Jethro was “the priest of Midian” (Exodus 3:1 & 18:1), so he was a Gentile who had apparently become a believer in Israel’s God. When listening to people who are either not believers or perhaps are  believers but from a significantly different theological perspective, caution should be taken:

  • We should be ready to listen.
  • We need to make sure their advice is in agreement (or at least not in disagreement) with the principles given by God in His Word.
  • We need to check with God prayerfully to see if the advice given is in fact His will.

“Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” (Proverbs 11:14)

“Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.” (Proverbs 15:22)

“1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” (Psalms 1:1–2)

Questions for Reflection

Who in your life might God be using to offer you wise counsel right now?

Are there areas in your ministry where you’re carrying too much alone?

How can you start identifying and developing leaders in your congregation this week?

Note – This is an expanded and revised version of a post originally published in 2022.

 


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