Exodus 18 -- Discernment To KNOW I've Heard From God

Moses’ father-in-law traveled to him, bringing Moses’ wife and two sons, who had apparently stayed with Jethro while Moses had returned to Egypt.  It says that he was a priest of Midian.  That does not however indicate that he was Jewish.  Midian had been one of Abraham’s sons from his second wife after Sarah had died.  Except for some gifts, none of these other sons had received any of his estate, which all had gone to Isaac.  Likewise, they may not have inherited his faith either.

Jethro did come to a knowledge of God after Moses told him how God had miraculously delivered the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians.  After all, that’s what God had planned to do all along – use the miracles as evidence to the world of His great power and love for His people.

Moses had always spoken to God face-to-face, as a man speaks to a friend, and until this point no intermediary had delivered a message to him from God.  So some commentators wonder about whether Moses shouldn’t have continued doing what God had last told him to do until God told him differently.  Although Jethro’s advice to delegate authority seems sound to us today, whether in the long term it was time to make such a change is something we aren’t given an answer to.

Father, I know You can use anyone to deliver Your message as You see fit, and when a message sounds good, it is all too tempting to decide that it has indeed come from You.  Help me to have discernment to know what You want me to know and don’t let me change course without hearing absolutely from You.  I don’t want to sacrifice the best for only the good.  I know that You never assign tasks without giving grace for them.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford