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Moses Accepted the Advice from his Father-in-law

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Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.

He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. (Exodus 18:24-25)

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In the land of Midian, there was a man named Jethro.

This man was the father-in-law of Moses who brought the Israelites out of Egypt.

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Today, very happy news was delivered to Jethro.

It was the whole story of God leading the Israelites out of Egypt.

Zipporah, the wife of Moses and their two sons in Jethro’s house also rejoiced together.

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Jethro wanted to bring Moses' family to him.

Jethro brought Moses' family to meet him in the desert where the Israelites were living in tents.

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To welcome his father-in-law, Jethro and his family, Moses ran ahead to meet them.

Then in front of his father-in-law, Moses fell on the ground and greeted him.

Then Moses hugged and kissed his family.

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Moses led Jethro to his tent.

While eating lots of delicious food, Moses told Jethro many stories about God’s work.

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After Jethro heard all of the great work that God had done he replied,

"Let us praise the Lord. The Lord is greater than any other god."

Then Jethro offered sacrifices to God.

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The next day, Moses took his seat to solve the problems which the Israelites brought to him. From morning until evening, the Israelites surrounded Moses.

Seeing Moses working so hard, Jethro felt pity for Moses.

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Jethro said to Moses who was working for the Israelites. "Why do you work like this for the people? The people stand around you from morning ‘till evening but why are you the only one who is doing all the judgments?"

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Jethro said to Moses, "If you will work like this, you and even the people will get tired soon. This work is too much for you to do alone."

So Jethro gave this advice to Moses.

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"Among the people, select capable men who fear God, and are trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain. Then according to their capability, appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Allowing them to judge the simple problems and only bringing the difficult problems to you."

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After hearing the advice of Jethro, Moses realized that God was also happy with that so Moses obeyed. Therefore Moses selected loyal men who feared God and appointed them as the officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Then Moses let them judge simple problems by themselves.

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The appointed leaders treated all the simple cases which they could handle. But when a difficult case occurred, they brought it to Moses and he would solve that case. Before, there was the difficulty of waiting for the judge all day long but after Moses appointed the leaders, that difficulty disappeared.

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Moses and the people were able to make the judgments more comfortably than before. This good thing happened because Moses had the humble heart of accepting advice from his father-in-law. Also, Moses did not feel bad about getting pin-pointed. So Moses followed the advice and the people were comforted.

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Among you, is there anyone who feels bad about getting advice from others?

That kind of heart is not a humble heart.

God said that HE won’t be with those people who have a boastful heart.

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I will read one verse from Proverbs.

Proverbs 29:23 says: "A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor."

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God is glad when we work together cooperatively with respect towards other’s opinions and with humbleness. We, who have listened to the sermon today, should humbly accept the advice of our parents and people around us who give us advice out of their worries and of a pure heart. We should make it a good habit to work hard as a Christian so that our faith will be complimented by God like Moses who work cooperatively.