Hearty Helping

Exodus 18:13-27

This incident reveals a remarkable degree of social organization in the desert. Not only is Moses mediating in personal disputes, but also serves the function of prophet-preacher, informing the people of God’s decrees and laws (verse 16), and representing the people before God (verse 19). In other words, he is not just mediating between people, but also between God and the people.

Moses’ father-in-law notices and all this, and proposes a plan: Get some help! And Moses does it. The people are divided into military-like divisions, with judges responsible over those sections of people, with just the toughest matters still coming to Moses.

What is especially noteworthy is that the Scripture has no difficulty with this plan coming from a ‘foreign’ priest. The key thing seems to be that, whatever the source, the result reflect and promote the divine will and plan.

Some people have a knack for taking whatever is in the fridge and putting it together into a great meal, or at least an edible one. God seems to do this on a rather higher level: taking all the elements of our lives, if we will let him, and give us a new path. He can take all the disparate elements of a faith community, if we will let him, and make them a force to be reckoned with. He did, after all, form a whole creation out of formlessness and void. It’s nothing for him take the stuff of our lives and fashion our way through the desert.

Prayer:
God, you are indeed the Great Chef. What are you cooking up today? In Christ. Amen.