Death of the Renaissance Man

When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?” Exodus 18:14

Death of the Renaissance Man
By Rev. William Dohle

When I was growing up, my father tried very very hard to expand my horizons and talents.

It started with cars.  We had a VW bug out back and he tried very hard to teach me how to change a tires and the oil...but that didn't interest me.  He tried and tried...and finally gave up.

He tried with construction... we had a playhouse out back and my father did half the work on it and left the other half for me to finish.  It never got finished.

He tried electronics, and though I did enjoy playing video games and eventually programming and stuff, I never got into the hobby quite like he would have liked.

Sorry, Dad...  Guess your son is just mechanically challenged...:)

Everyone has different gifts, but sometimes we forget this.  Everyone has different interests and different talents, but sometimes we wish not.  Sometimes we wish we(and everyone around us) could do everything!  Every need we can fulfill.  Every problem we can fix.  We can do it!

Our ideal is the Renaissance Man, a modern concept out of the 1600's that imagined a man who was totally self-sufficient.  He needed no one to do anything for him.  He could grow his own food, kill and cook up his own meat, build his own house, tend his own family, and do everything that needed to be doing all by himself.

Such an ideal is still alive and well in the world around us.  I myself have encountered it in many places throughout my travels.

But this ideal is not biblical.  It is, in fact, what Moses was counselled against.

Back when the people of Israel were wandering in the desert... before they received the commandments at Sinai...Moses had the task of judging the people of Israel.  With so many people, you can imagine the job that was, and Moses took it well.  The people would line up outside and Moses would tell them what God had in mind.

At that time, Moses' Father-in-law came with Moses' wife and children in tow to visit his son-in-law and return Moses' family to him.  When Jethro saw what Moses was doing, he saw beside himself!

"What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. 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. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you.” (Exodus 18:17-22)

Moses had good reason.  He saw these people needed help and he wanted to help them, but in helping them, Moses was taking on too much.  He couldn't do it alone!  He needed help!

We too need to realize that we need help.  Even the greatest Renaissance Man cannot operate on himself.  They may have built their own homes, but they do not diagnose their own illnesses.  They may have built their own cars, but they still need someone to make their clothes.  And at the end of their lives, even the most self-sufficient man cannot bury themselves.

We need others to do things that we cannot.  We need them.  We need mechanics to fix our cars and plumbers to fix our pipes.  We need famers to grow our food and truckers to bring the food to the store and store keepers to put it out on the shelves for us.  We need construction workers of all varieties to do their individual jobs that they do so well.  We need them to be specialized, not generalized.  We need each other.

No one would want a construction worker on the street doing brain surgery.  You want a brain surgeon.  Unless that construction worker has hidden talents and has gone to school, we don't place a scalpel in their hands.  But we do trust them to build our roads and our schools and the very hospitals we are in.  We need them to do what they were called to do.

May we remember Jethro's words to Moses and not demand or expect others to have the gifts that we do, but instead may we use the gifts that God has given each of us for the common good and to the glory of His Name.

God you have given me with unique gifts and talents that no one else has.  Help me use them for others.  Humble me too that I may see where I need other people as they need me.  Amen.