The Leadership of Moses, pt1
Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 151
It’s easy to have an attitude about Moses. He blew it at the end and didn’t get into the Promised Land. Yet, when you read the whole story, Moses brought so much to the table. We have more biographical information on Moses than we do anyone else in the Bible. There are 120 years of history—from his birth to his death. There are three 40-year segments—his time in captivity, his time as part of the royal family, and his time as an emancipator.
Before we get to Moses’ good leadership demonstrations, I want to jump to the end and discuss Moses not getting into the Promised Land. He had a major character violation in striking the rock. Why was God so hard on him? It was because Moses knew God face-to-face, and the violation he committed was one that was to the depth of that relationship.
Numbers 20:7-10
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.” So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?”
“Listen now, you rebels.” There is a contradiction. Rebels don’t listen. That’s how you know they are rebels. Though you talk, they don’t listen. Moses was frustrated.
Numbers 20:11-12
Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
This is the greatest error in Moses’ leadership. For most leaders—whether in your family, business, community, or ministry—this is the greatest failure that leaders make also:
Allowing sinful, rebellious, frustrating people to dictate the actions of the leader.
That is exactly what happened here. Moses became so frustrated with the rebellious actions of the followers. Not all of the followers were rebellious. When you get focused on the negative, when you get focused on the people who aren’t buying in or the people who are being obstinate, that is all you will see. That was the violation.
As a leader you can never allow what people are NOT going to do to stop you from doing what you need to do. You may have to do it a different way because they are not cooperating, but they can never set your destiny. Moses allowed them to get under his skin and dictate his response, his response that was to the Lord.
What people have done, what they are doing now, what you think they might do in the future is not a barometer for what God wants you to do. Again, HOW you do it may have to change. Moses was taking people into the Promised Land. That destination was never going to change. The timing may change because of how obstinate they were. But WHAT God was going to do never changed. HOW He was going to do it changed, based on the people.
As a leader, you have to ask: WHAT does God want me to do and HOW am I going to bring that to pass in light of these things? But we don’t look at these things, meaning those rebellious people, and believe that because of them, “this” will not come to pass. Never go there! One person can wreck the entire program if you allow that to happen. Never allow the lowest common denominator, the most frustrating people and the most challenging people, to dictate the direction you are going to go.
Never allow your frustration with other people to determine your destination. When that happens, that person has become lord of your life. When you allow that person to dictate your direction, your destiny, when you say you can’t do something because of them, they have now become lord. They are sitting on the throne, manipulating you. I’m not suggesting that what they are doing won’t make your job harder; it’s just not going to change your destiny.
Look at all the things the children of Israel did, and yet God never changed His mind about what the job of Moses was--to get them into the Promised Land. Even though Moses didn’t make it, he ordained Joshua to carry them in. Even when Moses blew it and acted more like a follower than a leader, it didn’t change the children of Israel getting into the Promised Land.
When you take your frustration out on God and don’t want to do what He says because of other people, there has been a lordship change--and that is very dangerous.
Renew yourself and your vision. What has God called you to do? If you are the only one doing it, keep doing it. Do not allow the sin and rebellion of other people to control your destiny.
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
