Title: Stop multiplying failure| By: J.O. Lawal|Fire my bones

Date: January 25, 2023|Series: Youth for Jesus|Number: Vol. 5, No. 37

“Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good…”” Ex 18:17NIV)
What was Moses, that great man of God, doing that was not good? It was his leadership approach that was not good. As the account shows us, before his father-in-law, Jethro, visited him, Moses used to sit down everyday to attend to all the disputes and concerns of the Israelites that he was taking to the Promised Land. And how many people are we looking at? According to the first census of these people that Moses took, we are looking at about six hundred thousand men, not counting their wives, children and servants (Num 1:46).

Why, then, was Moses all alone attending to all the disputes, requests and misunderstandings of all these people? It was because he felt that he was the only one that must do so. But where was that getting him and the people he was attending to? Nowhere! Evidently, the work was too much for him to handle. Therefore, he was utterly ineffective in handling it.

Unfortunately, Moses was ignoring the fact that he, as one man, was ineffective in leading all the people at that time. He was ignoring the fact that though he was a great spiritual leader, he was very poor in administrative matters. And why was he doing this to himself? It was because there was no one bold and wise enough to draw his attention to his folly, without disrespecting the anointing of God on his life. So, they all left him to continue to multiply failure.

We too can continue to multiply failure in certain or all the areas of our lives, if we are ignoring the fact that we are failing at what we are doing. It takes courage and sincerity to admit failure. It takes courage and sincerity to admit that what we are doing is not working and needs to be approached or addressed differently. But do we have these attributes in our lives, courage and sincerity?

When God saw that the world of Noah’s day was not working, did He not face that fact? He did! God did not lie to Himself about the fact that the world that He had created and given to humanity was not working at all and needed to be ended. And He did not wait for anybody to tell Him that this was the situation. Instead, He told Himself the truth about it and did the needful. Was He happy to do the needful, which involved destroying everything on the face of the earth, except Noah and his family? No! But He did what He had to do in order to give us another chance to recreate our world and live to fulfil His purpose for us. (Cf. Gen 6-9)

So, if what you are doing is not working, tell yourself the truth about it and begin to consider how to make things right. And don’t ignore the truth of your failure because nobody is saying anything to you about it or because certain ‘Yes people’ are encouraging you to keep multiplying failure. Remember that even though Moses was failing terribly in administering justice to the nation of Israel at that time, nobody among his people, not even his own brother Aaron, said anything to him about it. They all were probably telling him what he wanted to hear from them, which was not at all good for him or the people.

However, when God was going to save him, he moved his father-in-law to come and visit him, bringing along his wife and sons. And when he came, he immediately noticed the error of this man of God and lost no time at all in drawing his attention to it. He told him very plainly, as we see in our opening text, that what he was doing was wrong and would simply destroy him and the people. Then he went on to tell him the right thing to do, which was to delegate his administrative responsibilities among the various gifted people in the nation, if God permitted him to do so. And guess what? Moses listened to him and was rid of his ineffectiveness and failure in leadership. (Cf. Ex 18)

Now it is possible that you too, like Moses, have something you are doing that is not good and that is causing you to multiply failure. Then acknowledge it and deal with it without delay, if you know what it is. Don’t wait for a Jethro to come and point it out to you. That is because that Jethro may never come.

But if it is something you don’t know, my prayer is that God will send a Jethro to open your eyes to see it. And when He does send him, don’t let pride get in the way. Instead, humble yourself, listen, learn and get the needful done without wasting time at all. Otherwise, you will simply keep on multiplying failure.

Cheers!