A NURSING FATHER

In the verses today, we learn that Moses was completely over­whelmed by the responsibility of caring for the people of God. He saw himself as ‘carrying them in his bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child’. We cannot fault Moses for his loving concern and there is much here that elders could emulate in our day. But it would appear that Moses was taking all this upon himself without involving others and the Lord had to instruct him to share the burden with spiritually qualified breth­ren and thus find relief.

Elders among the Lord’s people carry heavy responsibilities. Spiritual elders will take the people of God and their problems to heart and tenderly nurse them along. This can be demanding, physically, emotionally and spiritually. The apostle Paul felt the burden of this himself when he wrote, ‘Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches’, 2 Cor. 11. 28.

However, there is always the danger of assuming too much responsibility, to the point of breakdown. Moses had reached that point when he asked the Lord, ‘Kill me I pray thee, out of hand’, v. 15. The answer to this crisis lies in involving other quali­fied brethren to share the burden. It is possible to become the architect of one’s own personal crisis through failure to do so. Elders must always be on the look-out for those whom the Lord has fitted for the responsibilities of oversight and to involve them in the work. Too often qualified men are sidelined through failure to recognize that the Holy Spirit has raised them up as elders among the people of God. Overseers who are elderly must also avoid the danger of hanging on to power to the detri­ment of their health and the health of the assembly, and to the exclusion of younger, more energetic, spiritually qualified men. The apostle followed this pattern in his service for the Lord. He was willing to delegate responsibility to young Timothy, saying, ‘For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state’, Phil. 2. 20. May the Lord enable shepherds among us to search out such men, to share the burden of leadership and pros­per the assembly.