I've been reading the book of Exodus lately and thinking about Moses as an example for leadership, but probably not in all the ways we might expect. There's no question that Moses was one of the most influential leaders in all of history as he took a scraggly group of slaves and over the course of 40 years transformed them into a cohesive nation. They lacked purpose, direction and unity when they started out on their own. God chose Moses to lead them from slavery into the promised land - what was it that made Moses such an uncommon leader?
First of all, Moses would not have made it through the screening processes we have for approving leaders in this century. Remember, he killed an Egyptian, enacted martial law, became the judge, jury and executioner when he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave. He ran away and hid for 40 years in the desert before he returned to Egypt again (he probably never thought he was going back).
In addition to a pretty bad background check, he also had some major insecurities and probably a bit of a speech impediment. He himself told God he wasn't qualified for the job and tried to gracefully bow out, but God gave him a right-hand man to support Moses instead of letting him off the hook.
I wonder, how many of us have felt at times that we ought to be disqualified from service due to mistakes we made in the past? Or have you ever felt that your weaknesses and inadequacies are obvious to all?
God's message to us through this story is that He chooses the unlikely, unqualified and the uncommon person to lead....why does He do this? Because as He told Moses, "I am with you." HE is the leader in all actuality.
After Moses led the people out into the desert, he went up on Mt. Sinai and received the commandments from the Lord. While he was listening to God, the people were building a golden calf idol to worship (instead of the One true God). God's anger burned against the people and Moses went before God to intercede for them. He even says to God that he would be willing to lose his life in order to save the Israelites (Exodus 32:32).
Wow - I can't imagine being such a dedicated leader as to sacrifice my life for people who are rebellious and obstinate! Underlying that sacrificial spirit was a desire to glorify God as Moses prayed that God's character would not be maligned before the Egyptians.
That's what made Moses an uncommon leader; he took servant leadership to the next level.
1 John 3:16 "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."
I'm sure Moses was uncommon in many more ways but the last one I have been meditating on is his hunger to know God. Moses had seen God's power before the Pharaoh with all the crazy plagues and miracles and Moses had followed God out to Mt. Sinai where he wrote down the commandments, so you would think that he knew God pretty well by this time. He was working for God, talking to God daily, but he still didn't feel his thirst for God was quenched. He was eager to KNOW God, to see Him face to face, to know the Great I Am (Exodus 33:18-23).
How many times as spiritual leaders have we run dry or started to see the Word as a textbook instead of longing for more of God's presence and glory? May we be uncommon leaders, seeking God first, hungering for more of Him and longing to know Him above all else.
Philippians 3:8-11
What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Jeremiah 29:13 says that if you seek me you will find me if you search for me with all your heart. The key here is with all your heart. So often we seek God but it is done with a divided heart. Our heart is all to often divided between our own flesh, idols, search for pleasure and escape and downright selfishness. All of this distances us from Christ and keeps us from that close intimate relationship with Him. As an illustration, in my home I will be speaking to one of my family members and they will leave the room and keep talking to me. I have poor hearing, I have to get up and go to them and be in their presence to hear them. I find this is exactly the way it is with my relationship with Christ. I often distance myself from Him either by giving into the flesh and sin, not being in the Word like I should and not communing with Him in fervent prayer. When this happens sadly I do not hear from Him, I do not feel his presence. Moses was not a perfect leader by any means but his hunger and thirst for God and his reliance on him in difficult times made him a great leader. This hunger and thirst for God positioned him to hear from God and to uniquely feel His presence. When he was weak, that is truly when God showed up and was strong in his life. May we fall on our knees today and cry out to God, may we grieve over our undivided hearts and sin, and may we return and drink from the Living Water that will never leave us thirsty or dry.
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