“Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”
The Supreme Court just handed down a decision in June of 2023, Masterpiece Cake shop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, that a local baker had the right to refuse service to a same-sex couple for a wedding cake. The baker, Philips, won the case and set the precedent that he could not be forced to bake this cake and that he had the right to refuse service. I really cannot see how this case made it all the way up the legal system to the highest court in the land especially because there were plenty of bake shops willing to bake this cake for this couple. Some things need to solved before we take things to court.
A lot of has happened to the Israelites thus far. The crossing of the Red Sea, the manna, the quail, the water from the rock, the piece of wood that made bitter water drinkable, etc. This is one blessed group of people. The verse today is when Jethro tells Moses to delegate authority to good men, who fear God, who are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain and put them over groups of 1000, 100 and 10’s. The whole purpose of this was for Moses to be able to stand and be a leader to the people instead of someone who decides all the quarrels. As much as God showed up for the people many quarrels among the people still happened.
Quarrels, in this life, will happen. You may be in one right now. Your first thought is to get someone much more powerful or more wise than you to solve the issue. Jethro reminds us that not all quarrels need to be dragged all the way up the flagpole. Some things can and should be settled before the issue gets way to large. Moses was instructed by Jethro to get honest men who despise dishonest gain as overseers of the groups.
Who are you getting to govern your quarrel? The Israelites tried to solve things on their own but ended up all going to Moses to solve quarrels. You can read in verses 21 that Israel had an issue with dishonest people. Dishonest people govern dishonestly. Today try to exam yourself, comb through your habits and get ride of all dishonesty. Leadership starts with honesty and integrity, but the first thing to exam is whether or not you fear God in the areas of your life that seem to be governed by selfish and or dishonest motives.
Father, today please mold us into leaders with Godly qualities. Help us understand and solve quarrels that come to us in Godly ways without selfish or dishonest motives. Amen.

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