The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Wednesday, 21 January 2015 “Moses: 'I can’t bear this people on my own'”

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Wednesday, 21 January 2015 “Moses: 'I can’t bear this people on my own'”
Daily Scripture: Numbers 11:10 The Israelites stood around their tents complaining. Moses heard them and was upset that they had made the Lord angry. 11 He prayed:
I am your servant, Lord, so why are you doing this to me? What have I done to deserve this? You’ve made me responsible for all these people, 12 but they’re not my children. You told me to nurse them along and to carry them to the land you promised their ancestors. 13 They keep whining for meat, but where can I get meat for them? 14 This job is too much for me. How can I take care of all these people by myself? 15 If this is the way you’re going to treat me, just kill me now and end my miserable life!
Seventy Leaders Are Chosen To Help Moses
16 The Lord said to Moses:
Choose seventy of Israel’s respected leaders and go with them to the sacred tent. 17 While I am talking with you there, I will give them some of your authority, so they can share responsibility for my people. You will no longer have to care for them by yourself.
Reflection Questions:
Freed from slavery in Egypt by a series of miraculous events, the Israelites still complained about the discomforts of trekking through the desert. They even went so far as to tell Moses they had been better off in Egypt! Moses found the situation discouraging and distressing—more than he could “handle.” But God didn’t scold him. God agreed Moses couldn’t handle it alone, and told him to enlist help to bear the burden.
• Review Moses’ complaint to God in verses 11-15. Note the words and phrases that indicate the Israelite complaints had pushed Moses past the point of what he could handle—that he was at the end of his rope. Can you remember situations you’ve faced in which you could identify with Moses’ feelings of being desperate and overwhelmed?
• One reason people often repeat “God won’t give you more than you can handle” is that our culture places a high premium on our ability to single-handedly “handle” any challenges life throws our way. Have you ever been embarrassed to ask for help in dealing with a situation? How does God’s guidance to Moses point to the importance of being willing to admit we can’t handle everything alone?
Prayer: Lord God, when Moses was overwhelmed, you didn’t tell him to handle it, but to enlist others to help him. Give me a willingness to ask for help when I need it, too. Amen.

Insight from Kari Burgess

Kari Burgess is a Program Director for the Catalyst team, handling promotion and marketing for all of the conferences held at Resurrection, as well as registration and coordinating hospitality volunteers.

As I read our passage for today from Numbers, I can’t help but think about my role here at the church, helping to coordinate the various conferences we host. Several times a year, we host events that bring in leaders from churches across the country to share with them about leadership principles and best practices from here at Resurrection, in order to fulfill our vision of renewing the mainline church.

Part of my responsibility is to coordinate the volunteers needed for these events. I love these events! In fact, I am so passionate about it I would love to serve every meal, wipe off every water bottle, greet at every door, assist every guest with their registration and direct traffic in the parking lot. Even as passionate as I am about welcoming our guests, there is clearly no way I could “handle” it alone! It takes a team of others passionate about our vision to make these events run smoothly.

I remember one particular experience a few years ago. Just a few days prior to Leadership Institute, the largest conference we hold (attracting more than 2000 leaders yearly  from across the world), I was feeling strung out, run down and overwhelmed. I was driving home and I prayed out loud to God, telling Him there was no way I could do everything in time for this event. The details were swirling in my head. I couldn’t possibly handle any more. At that moment, God clearly reminded me I was right–I couldn’t handle it on my own. I spent time praying for God to take the burden from me, allowing me to rely on him to make sure all the details were attended to. And suddenly the weight was lifted.

I returned to work the next morning clear-headed, focused, and with a new vision. I wasn’t supposed to do this alone. There were others as passionate, with great abilities to take some responsibilities. I made phone calls to several of our great volunteers, asking if they would be willing to take over some tasks. And they did, with great enthusiasm! We have amazing volunteers who are so willing to give of their time and talents–they simply needed to be asked and given a little instruction.

As a result of the dedication of our team of volunteers, the guests had a great experience and felt God renewing them and their ministries in amazing ways. Over and over our guests tell us stories about transformation in their churches and communities, thanks to the ideas and inspiration they experience at these events. And they always comment about the amazing hospitality they receive from our volunteers. Thanks to the dedication of hundreds of volunteers, we are able to handle these events with the excellence Resurrection has become known for. Thank goodness God doesn’t want us to handle everything on our own! He has given us this big vision that at times can seem daunting, but God will help us handle what we have been given.

If you would like to volunteer at an upcoming conference, please fill out an interest form at thislink.

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