Joyce Meyer - Establishing Boundaries
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You're not ever gonna have less stress if you don't change something, and I keep hearing kinda the same thing. It's like, how can I make this go away? But you know what? A lot of you, you're a lot smarter than what you may think that you are, and I bet I could pull any one of you up here and do a little quiz. And you could tell me what your problem is, and I could say, "Now what do you think might change that"? Come on. Why don't you just do what you would tell somebody else to do if they ask you how to solve a problem that's the same as the problem that you're dealing with? So I don't have an answer for you if you're not willing to make changes in your life.
And so tonight we're gonna talk about some people in the Bible that were overloaded and what they did about it, and then we're gonna start talkin' about borders and boundaries. We have to set borders and boundaries in our life, but, first of all, let's look at Moses in Numbers chapter 11, verse 10. "And Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and in the eyes of Moses it was evil. And Moses said to the Lord, 'why have you dealt ill with your servants? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Have I conceived all these people? Have I brought them forth, that you should say to me, 'carry them in your bosom, as a nursing father carries the suckling child,' to the land which you swore to their fathers to give them?'"
You notice now that Moses has got a problem with the people, and he feels that he needs to meet their need. They're not happy, and so he feels that it's his responsibility to try to help them get happy. But now he's turning around and sayin' to God, "Why have You given me all this to do"? And I think a lot of times that's kind of what we say to God, too, "How can You expect me to do all this"? When a lot of times God's not expecting us to do it at all. "Where am I gonna get meat to give all these people"? Verse 13. "For they weep before me and say, 'give us meat, that we may eat.'" Now watch verse 14. "I am not able to carry all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me".
Now I think that's really the open door to getting help right there, not just sayin', "I can't do this," in a complaining way but getting serious with God and sayin', "I cannot live like this any longer, and I need to know what You want me to do to bring a change in my life". God is not just gonna wave a magic wand over us. We can't just pray, and, poof, poof, everything goes away. We have to be willing to make changes. And so Moses came to the point where he said, "I can't do this anymore". "And if this is the way You're gonna deal with me, then kill me, I pray you, at once". Anybody been like this? Well, I would just rather die than keep living like this. Anybody ever said that? I know I did. If this is the way life is gonna be, then what's the point in even living it?
"'And You'll be doing me a favor and let me see my wretchedness in the failure of all my efforts.' And the Lord said to Moses, 'gather seventy men. I'll put the anointing that's on you on them. They can share the burden with you, and things will become doable.'" Well, I wish I had help. Well, you gotta do more than wish, you know? To be honest, some of you, you're busy makin' all kinds of money, and if you're gonna do that, then you need to use a little bit of that money to get a little bit of help so you don't drive yourself crazy and have no life. Yes, I'm giving you permission to spend a little money to get a little help. Oh, you're gonna make this hard, aren't you? I can see.