Read Exodus 18:1-28
Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 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.” –Exodus 18:17-18
Up until now, we’ve considered the word “threshold” as a synonym for “crossing.” But there’s another meaning for the word “threshold”—it can also describe a limit or capacity. When an engineer designs a bridge, for instance, he needs to know how much weight can safely cross that bridge. If the load exceeds its threshold, that bridge will likely fail. The same could be said for engines, computers, and even people.
We all have a threshold for different types of burdens or stressors. The load that one person carries might overwhelm another. It’s OK to acknowledge that we all have different limits. The danger is when we operate as if we have no limits—when we willfully stretch ourselves to carry loads beyond our capacity. We may be able to operate beyond our thresholds for short periods of time. But when we operate beyond our limits, it produces wear and tear upon our souls. If we don’t take time to rest and repair the damage we’ve done, eventually that wear and tear can lead to breakdown.
That’s the position that Moses was in. Moses had a threshold that seemed superhuman. He had faced down the Egyptian Pharaoh. When the people panicked along the shores of the Red Sea, Moses had remained calm and projected strength. When the people complained of hunger and thirst, Moses remained patient. So you can forgive Moses for thinking he had no limits.
Yet when Jethro came to visit his son-in-law, he found a man operating well beyond his limits. All day long, the people came to Moses with every civil complaint. No matter how large or small the problem, the people looked to Moses to resolve it. From sun-up to sun-down, all Moses did was carry other people’s problems. Not only was he operating beyond his limits—he was neglecting the one essential duty that God had entrusted to him: to lead.
So Jethro gave him a dose of harsh reality: What you are doing is no good. How many of us want to hear something like that? Especially when we’re going above and beyond, giving all that we have and more to the task at hand. Imagine how Moses felt in that moment, after all he’d given and sacrificed and made possible for the people of God. What do you mean it’s “no good”?!?
But Jethro was right. The pattern Moses was living in was not good. He wasn’t listening to “burning bushes” anymore. He was wearing himself out, on the path to burnout. But luckily, along with his dose of reality, Jethro gave him some sage advice: You don’t have to carry this burden alone. There are capable leaders all around you, people of high integrity and good judgment. Empower them to hear these cases and make decisions for the people, leaving you to weigh in on only the most difficult and thorny of issues. “Do this,” Jethro counseled, “and you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” (v. 23) Happily, Moses listened to his father-in-law, and both he and the people prospered as a result.
Is there a place in your life where you are operating beyond your threshold of energy, time, or emotion? If you listen closely to God (and to those who love you), would they point to something that is “not good” in your life? How can you share your burdens with others? Whom might you empower to help carry the load? What blessing might you find—and others receive—if you learned to live within your threshold?
O God, You know the burden of all that I carry. You crafted me with limits, so that I might learn to depend on You and to live in community with others. Teach me to respect my limits and to share the tasks You have set before me. Help me to discern what is the most important thing I must cling to, and what work I can faithfully share with others, so that Your purpose for me might be fulfilled. Amen.