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From The Desk Of: Mickey G. Quinn

"Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?" Numbers 16:1-3. Here we have an instance where a group of men, being jealous of Moses and his brother Aaron, confronted them and told them that they took too much upon themselves. Well, this didn't sit too well with Moses, nor did it sit too well with the Lord, for if you will read the rest of that chapter, you will see that the Lord opened the ground beneath those men and all that were theirs and swallowed them up.

"And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God: When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and His laws. And Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone." Exodus 18:13-18. Here, we have the father in law of Moses, telling him basically the same thing that Korah and his bunch told him, but the outcome was very different. You see, Moses accepted the counsel of his father in law and it also pleased God.

In both cases, Moses was doing his very best to serve the Lord in the best way he knew how. In both cases, men came to him to tell him that he was taking too much upon himself. The difference being, in the case of Korah, it was a matter of jealousy and in the case of Jethro, (Moses' father in law) it was a matter of compassion for the well being of Moses and the work of the Lord.

There are a great many men and women of God who in their earnest desire to serve him will literally work themselves to death in their attempts. But, God never intends to kill his children with work and such service is not ordered of the Lord. The Lord truly will give us strength for our labor, but not if we are not doing what He wants us to do. In cases like this, those well meaning people often find themselves burned out. This neither is of a help to those people nor is it of value to the Lord's work.

The Lord does and will allow his children to serve Him, but when we begin to feel ourselves becoming burned out, we can be assured that some part of what we are doing is not really what He has given us to do. The Bible tells us, "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ." 1 Corinthians 12:12. What this tells us is that we are not the only one who the Lord expects to do the work that He has left for us to do. There are indeed many members and we all are expected to work for Him. Now, I know that some poor overworked saint will say something like, "If I don't do it, it won't get done." Please don't let the devil deceive you. Nothing would please him more than to have you work yourself to death for then he won't have to worry about you anymore. Not only would that be of harm to you, but also to the whole body of Christ. "And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it." 1 Corinthians 12:26.

Don't be mistaken, the Lord's work will get done and if you are truly willing to serve Him, He will surely use you, but to think that you must do it all will only hurt you and His cause. Let us all seek to serve Him and do our own parts as He wills. When we see a brother or a sister who is hurting, let us build that brother or sister up. Let us also encourage those who have not yet received a desire to serve Him to get involved that we all as members of His body may show this world that God is real and that Jesus Christ is real. This and only this, can glorify the Lord and His Kingdom.