Moses' father-in-law, Jethro had
heard of how God had blessed Israel and how He had mightily brought
them out of Egypt. He was glad and set out to meet Moses and the
Israelites where they were camped near the mountain of God. He
brought Moses' wife, Zipporah and Moses' two sons with him as well.
Moses was glad to see them and he greeted his father-in-law warmly.
Moses then shared how wonderful God was and how He had led them out
of slavery. He also told Jethro of the problems they had faced, but
how God had delivered them from it all. He told him everything.
And was Jethro jealous of Moses due
to the success he had? Did he feel that he had been a priest of God
his whole life, but he had never seen wonders like that?
Did he feel dejected that God hasn't used him as mightily as He had
Moses? No, his reaction is beautiful to me:
"Praise be to the Lord," Jethro
said, "for He has saved you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh. He
has rescued Israel from the power of Egypt! I know now that the
Lord is greater than all other gods, because His people have
escaped from the proud and cruel Egyptians." Exodus 18:10, 11
He also immediately presented a
burnt offering and sacrifices to God, even though he had not been
part of the Exodus, he rejoiced with them! Lovely.
We should be the same. We should
rejoice when we see God moving. We should be glad for those whom
God use to make an impact on this evil world of ours. We should be
happy to see God's Word spreading, no matter who does the physical
work or who receives the praises.
Unfortunately we tend to be jealous
of other Christians. We tend to think that God was supposed to use
us, not them, after all we had been faithful
children of His for a long time, whilst they had only just been
converted! Or we tend to look at worship leaders/spiritual leaders
of God and think we can actually do it better. Or we are jealous of
those who receive revelations from God, whilst we have been asking
Him to give it to us for years! We tend to want the honor for
ourselves. We tend to want all of God's gifts for ourselves.
But we shouldn't be that way. God
has given each of us an ability to do certain things well and He
will use you mightily in it. Just be faithful with what God has
given you. At the end of the day only His praises matter and
nothing else. If God is proud of you, what more can you wish for?
Be happy for others and be even happier that God's Word is
spreading around the globe, resulting in more people being
saved.
Father, here I am. Use my talents
and abilities to do Your work. Keep my eyes off from other people,
but unto Your work. Then I will be rejoicing forevermore. Amen