Numbers 11: 14 - I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.
It's February (in case you hadn't noticed), and that means that, for me, life gets even more hectic than usual. I won't bore you with the details, but take my word for it, "busy" doesn't cover it!
The temptation is to just plough on, head-down, bulldozing your way through everything; throwing more and more time into resolving difficult problems and just getting through the volume of things that need to be done. It is a strategy that may work for a while, but sooner or later, you can lose sight of why you are doing it. And when that happens, you become bitter, impatient, frustrated and stressed.
It is exactly when are lives are so full of this clutter that it is crucial to take time, throughout the day, to stop and listen to what God is saying. And when it is really getting too much, to be honest in our prayers with God and to say so.
In the past few weeks there have been a good few such occasions - times when I have just stopped and said to God, "... a little HELP, p-l-e-a-s-e!". Many of us, who are involved in church leadership, will be able to relate to this. It isn't always to do with "time"; it may just be a difficult situation that we don't know how to handle; the same problem coming round and round again; ill-health; family troubles - you name it.
Whatever it may be, there are times when it is important to recognise that Christian service is often difficult, and that we are not left to struggle on our own. Like Moses in the desert, besieged by complaints and workload, it is OK for us to cry out to God and ask for help.
In Numbers 11:11, Moses asks God, "
why have you brought this trouble on your servant?" Perhaps Moses needed to learn not to rely on his own strength to complete the task that was given to him; he needed to understand that it must always be on God that we depend; it must be in God that we trust; and when we come to Him in need, God will provide more than just "a little help".
Notices and Prayer site for St James Road Methodist Church, Southampton.