What is your relationship with your in-laws like? Do you listen to your father-in-law or your mother-in-law? Do you see them as the voice of God in your life?

Moses had a solid relationship with his father-in-law, Jethro. In Exodus 18, we see Jethro observing Moses in action. Jethro eventually gave some advice that would change Moses’ leadership style, because he had taken on too much responsibility.

Moses’ job was a big one. He was the leader of, conservatively, about 2 million people. And this group complained a lot, making it that much harder for him. 

Jethro observed with a fresh set of eyes. He saw Moses was spending the entire day trying to meet the needs of so many people, listening to their problems and giving God’s judgments. He saw this was a very inefficient way to do business. It was unsustainable to have so many coming to one person (see vv. 13-16).

Jethro told Moses, “The thing that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with you will wear yourselves out” (vv. 17-18).

And it’s true. No one person, no matter how gifted, can do the work of ministry alone. Exhaustion is not next to godliness. And it’s not biblical to try to solve all the world’s problems. The key is to manage your life in light of what’s important, not what’s urgent. 

That’s the message of Charles Hummel’s great little booklet, The Tyranny of the Urgent. He used Jesus as an example. Jesus was surrounded by people with urgent needs but always focused on what was important. 

So, after only three years of ministry, Jesus could say, “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). 

Hummel emphasized the fact that, every morning, Jesus spent quality time with his Father: “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35). And then he pointed out the filter Jesus used in decision making: “I always do those things that please Him” (John 8:29).

In other words, we should be getting up every day and evaluating life through the lens of what the Father has given us to do—our primary task.

Jethro told Moses to get alone with God, hear His voice, and train up others to share the load by dealing with smaller matters (vv. 19-22). Now that’s good leadership, because a leader can only do so much.

Okay, you might be thinking, “How does this apply to me? I’m not a pastor, or a leader of two million people.” But if you lead anything, small or large, your task is to understand the vision and communicate it clearly. 

The principle here is this: Be open. Take advice—take good advice. Cultivate relationships with the people around you who will give you that good advice.

All of us are part of the team. And we are in charge of not just completing a task, but instructing others along the way, and raising them up. I pray we would not only take good and godly advice but also give good and godly advice.