Daily Devotional – Sunday, September 6, 2026
Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God.
Exodus 18:19 (NKJV)
Have you ever become the person everyone turns to when something goes wrong? Someone calls with a family problem. Another person needs advice. Someone else wants you to step in and make things right. You care about these people, so you keep showing up. After a while, though, their problems follow you home. You think about them when you should be sleeping. You worry about things you cannot control. You may even start feeling that you have to fix everything.
You Can Care Without Carrying
Moses understood that pressure. People came to him with their disputes and difficulties, and he spent his day dealing with them. Jethro, his father-in-law, watched the scene and saw that Moses could not keep going like that. The older man did not tell Moses to stop helping the people. Rather, he advised Moses to stand before God for them and to bring their difficulties to Him. Moses was the one to lead and help, but he couldn’t carry every problem himself.
That distinction matters. Bringing someone’s difficulty to God does not mean that you stop caring or refuse to help. Moses still had work to do. He still had to teach the people and deal with difficult matters. Jethro’s counsel also included sharing responsibility with capable people. The point was not to walk away from responsibility. The point was to stop acting as though one person had to carry everything. Moses could serve the people faithfully without becoming responsible for every outcome.
The Burden You Were Never Meant to Carry
You can listen to someone without taking their problem home with you. You can offer wise counsel without trying to control what they do with it. You can pray for someone without spending every waking moment worrying about what will happen to them. Sometimes we care so deeply that we quietly take ownership of things God never placed in our hands. We carry the worry, the guilt, and the fear, while God is asking us to bring the difficulty to Him.
Think about what has been weighing on you lately. Perhaps you have been trying to hold together a relationship, solve someone’s financial trouble, change someone’s choices, or protect someone from every consequence. You may have a role to fulfil, and you should do it faithfully. Then leave the part that belongs to God with Him. Moses could not solve every difficulty in Israel, and neither can you. You can care. You can help. You can pray. Then you can put the burden down and trust God with it.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, You know the people and problems I keep carrying in my mind. Help me do what I can, then trust You with what I cannot control. Teach me to bring their difficulties to You instead of carrying them as if everything depends on me.
