Exodus 13-18 & Capitalizing on Time to Prepare

Out of these six chapters in Exodus, chapter 18 stuck out to me most. It's when Jethro visits Moses and the Israelites out in the desert. And Jethro basically helps Moses to create some sort of structure to help manage the people of Israel - like a court system, a way to help settle disputes and disagreements and whatnot. What really stood out to me was the kind of men Jethro told Moses to "hire" basically.

"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." (Ex 18:21)

I'm not sure if I should really look into that super deeply, but it got me thinking... Imagine the good in the world if the public officials we elected were the "capable men" who Jethro describes - if they actually feared God and were trustworthy and were completely transparent with no hidden motives, no personal agendas. That's some good food for thought...

So that was my first thought, the first thing that spoke to me from these chapters. And then I started reading the commentary that I follow, and it mentioned something else that I really liked. Exodus 18 also speaks to how God was preparing Israel for its return to Canaan. If you do a little research, you'll find out quickly that Moses and the Israelites wandered the desert for a loooong time before actually reaching Canaan. But all of this was preparation. I take it as God making sure His people would be able to sustain Israel before saying "here ya go, make it work, good luck." He was giving them the tools and skills they would need to maintain a society.

The commentary also used this chapter as lesson for Believers today - to use the time we are given by God to prepare ourselves for what He has planned for us. Embrace the training, essentially. And I needed to hear that. I have finally found a full-time job that allows me to take care of myself financially, and that has lifted an enormous weight off my shoulders. So much of my stress has been relieved. But I still have this small feeling of discontent. I so badly want to be at a different point in my life. I wish I could be expecting to get married and start a family soon, but I know I'm going to have to wait a while (read: much longer than I want to wait) before that can happen. It's frustrating. 

But I need to look at this delay, I guess, as a training period. God is giving me time to prepare for that phase of my life because clearly He knows more about me than I know about myself. He knows what I'm ready for, and I need to accept His timing even though it conflicts with mine. 

It's funny how I've gone over a month without reading the Bible, but as soon as I open it again I hear a lesson that I desperately needed to hear. If I had read Exodus 18 back at the beginning of May, who knows if its message would have had any impact on me. Again, God's timing is always better than mine...