Why Must I Do It All by Myself?

I ride a bicycle to work each day. It gives me time to think. This morning I was thinking of all the things I had to do today. Suddenly, it struck me, "Why do I have to be the one that does all these things?" The truth is that I don't. Few people would expect me to do many of the things I do. Why must I do it myself?

I started thinking Moses encounter with his father-in-law. (I came into my office, took a Bible, flipped it open and it landed exactly on the page where the story is recorded. How weird is that?!) His father-in-law, Jethro, watches Moses judge the people all day. Moses even has a good explanation of why he must do so. He tells the people how God decides in their disputes. Jethro doesn't understand why Moses has to be the only one to judge. He is not able to be the leader he needs to be and the people must stand in lines all day to hear his judgment. I am sure that lots of disputes were worked out outside the system. The strong will rule over the weak in the absence of a governing authority. I'll bet  some days the lines were just too long for some people.

Jethro tells Moses he should appoint others to handle the minor disputes and let only the major ones come to him. He agrees. The result makes Moses and the people a whole lot happier. God's will is accomplished better too.

Is there something within me that says that I must do everything? Do I think that others can't do it as well as I do? Do I think that I am slacking off if I don't have more to do than humanly possible? Do I think that I am God's only chosen servant? None of this makes sense.

I think my problem is that I don't trust people to do things the way that I do them. I need to give that up. Of course, they won't do things the way I would do them. They aren't me! They shouldn't be expected to. Sometimes they will do things much better than I do even if it isn't the way I wanted them done. Even if they don't do them as well, their doing the more minor job will free me to do the more major jobs.

So, I must think of all the things I am doing. I must decide which ones that I absolutely must do. I should decide which ones I love to do. These are the ones that make me come to work each day. Then, I must give away everything else.

It will be hard. I won't like it at first. I may not ever like it but it will allow me to do what I really need to be doing.


How about you? Are you trying to do it all?

Exodus 18:17-18 (NIV)
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.