3/21 Numbers 11:11
11 Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all these people on me?
Moses was wearing down. The repeated complaining of the people was getting to him. In spite of all the miracles, in spite of the discipline from God, they just kept coming to Moses with one complaint after another. He was at the breaking point. God's answer was to give Moses 70 likeminded assistants.
The whining comes from focusing on personal desire instead of all that God was doing. They had miraculously been set free from Egypt, seen their enemies drown, been led daily by a cloud that shaded them from the sun, and fed daily from the hand of God, but they craved other things. If we are seeking satisfaction from the world, we will always be craving more. The world wasn't meant to fully satisfy us. It won't matter how many miracles we see, if our heart is fixed on physical things, we'll never see the wonder of the only true God that satisfies the soul.
God anointed men with the same Spirit that was upon Moses because there needed to be people in the congregation that pointed people to God. Helping Moses carry the burden meant helping people shift their focus from our insatiable flesh, to the wonder of God in their midst. The need is the same today. This focus on the world to satisfy is the source of church battles and backsliding believers. The Spirit is available today to all who would take up this call to first personally focus on the LORD in our midst and the wonders He is doing, and then help others to shift their focus away from their craving for things of this world to God's wonders and all-sufficiency.
Consider: The high rate of pastors quitting the ministry is largely due to the same problem. Will you be like one of the 70 by receiving the Spirit and focusing on God instead of the desires of this world? Will you help your pastor endure by pointing the people to the wonder of God in our midst?
