Leadership = High Expectations
“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.” Numbers 20:7-12
I can’t read the above passage without feeling a mix of emotions. Although I can’t say that I completely understand the extreme frustration that Moses was feeling toward the Children of Israel at this point, I can TRY to imagine how very hard it would have been to “keep my cool”. Yet, despite trying to understand what Moses must have felt, as I read that part where it says,
“And Moses lifted up his hand…”
I want to yell, “STOP…don’t do it, Moses! It’s going to cost you! You’ll deeply regret it!”
Recently, I was talking with a dear sister and sharing with her “the latest updates” of an ongoing prayer request of mine. As we talked, I admitted to her my frustrations – “Sometimes I just want to be done with it. Sometimes I just want to throw up my hands and walk away.”
But, I can’t.
When the Lord saved me, He made me a leader for HIM. No, my leadership role in no way at all compares with that of Moses! I CAN NOT IMAGINE what that would have been like! Nevertheless, I am a leader. It doesn’t matter whether I like it or not, I am a leader. It doesn’t matter whether or not I try to disregard it, the simple fact is others are watching my life. I am an ambassador for the Lord and as an ambassador, I must seek to represent my Lord in a way that would bring honor and glory to Him. Yes, since my salvation, I have failed Him miserably time and time again. And, each time I have allowed my feelings to get the best of me in the presence of others, they have not seen Christ glorified but rather this ol flesh gratified.
While doing some cleaning the other day, Bethany came across a couple of books dealing with leadership. Bethany loves quotes (like her daddy and I) and these books are chock-full of quotes on leadership. The next day, as we were driving to town, she sat next to me reading one of these books, and every now and then I would hear:
“Oh, this is a good one…” (as she proceeded to read aloud)
“Listen to this….”
“I really like this one…”
The passage at the beginning of this post is a grave reminder of the high expectations that God places on leaders. As a constant reminder to myself, I have written beside these verses – “bad attitude produces bad action”. We can “see” the bad attitude when Moses says, “Hear now, ye rebels…” Sadly, this bad attitude produced an act of the flesh that cost both Moses and Aaron tremendously. Yes, as Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it, that fit of rage may have been gratifying to his flesh for a very brief moment. But then, reality sunk in as God informed them that they would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. This punishment may seem very harsh for “just an act of disobedience”, but Moses’ action was far more serious than that. A portion of Matthew Henry’s comments are as follows:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“First, They did not punctually observe their orders, but in some things varied from their commission; God bade them speak to the rock, and they spoke to the people, and smote the rock, which at this time they were not ordered to do…”
“Secondly, They assumed too much of the glory of this work of wonder to themselves: Must we fetch water? as if it were done by some power or worthiness of theirs. Therefore it is charged upon them (Nu 20:12) that they did not sanctify God, that is, they did not give him that glory of this miracle which was due unto his name.”
“Thirdly, Unbelief was the great transgression (Nu 20:12): You believed me not; nay, it is called rebelling against God’s commandment, Nu 27:14. The command was to bring water out of the rock, but they rebelled against this command, by distrusting it, and doubting whether it would take effect or no. They speak doubtfully: Must we fetch water?”
“Fourthly, They said and did all in heat and passion; this is the account given of the sin (Ps 106:33): They provoked his spirit, so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips. It was in his passion that he called them rebels. It is true they were so; God had called them so; and Moses afterwards, in the way of a just reproof (De 9:24), calls them so without offence; but now it came from a provoked spirit, and was spoken unadvisedly…His smiting the rock twice (it should seem, not waiting at all for the eruption of the water upon the first stroke) shows that he was in a heat. The same thing said and done with meekness may be justifiable which when said and done in anger may be highly culpable; see Jas 1:20.”
“Fifthly, That which aggravated all the rest, and made it the more provoking, was that it was public, before the eyes of the children of Israel, to whom they should have been examples of faith, and hope, and meekness. We find Moses guilty of sinful distrust, Nu 11:22-23. That was private between God and him, and therefore was only checked. But this was public; it dishonoured God before Israel, as if he grudged them his favours, and discouraged the people’s hope in God, and therefore this was severely punished, and the more because of the dignity and eminency of those that offended.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Deuteronomy, we can hear the deep regret that Moses has for his actions as he tells his story:
“And I besought the LORD at that time, saying, O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.” Deuteronomy 3:23-27
Everyone is a leader. But, everyone is not a GOOD leader. Every Christian is a leader. But, every Christian is not a GODLY leader. Every leader will face times of frustration and as the number of those looking to us increases, those frustrations will only multiply. That is because every single one of us still deals with this sin nature on a daily basis.
It is easy to lead when everyone is “behaving”, right? For us mothers, it’s easy to be a momma or a nana when those children are being perfect little angels. But, on those days when it seems that everyone is whining, fighting, pouting, destroying, disobeying, back-talking, etc. and we begin to relate to Moses and those stiff-necked Israelites…now, that’s a different story, isn’t it? That is where the challenge comes – will our children/grandchildren witness us IN control or OUT of control?
Here’s a quote from one of those books that Bethany was reading:
“Leadership is often easy during the good times. It’s when everything seems to be against you – when you’re out of energy, and you don’t want to lead – that you earn your place as a leader. During every season of life, leaders face crucial moments when they must choose between gearing up or giving up. To make it through those times, rely on the rock of discipline, not the shifting sand of emotion.” ~ John Maxwell
I’ll close this post with a thought that’s been going through my mind recently. As a Christian mother, there are certain things that I pray for in the lives of my children. And, I believe the Lord has shown me that some of these specific prayers will be answered in His time. I really believe that. But, the question that has been going through my mind recently is this – Will I be alive to witness these prayers being answered, or, will it happen after I am dead and gone? As Moses missed out on experiencing the Promised Land with the Israelites, will I miss out on experiencing these blessings for which I have prayed? I know that the main thing is that they are indeed answered. I understand that. But you know what? I sure would like to experience them as well if the Lord would allow.
Just some thoughts I’ve been pondering here the last few days. I do believe the greater our influence in the lives of others, the higher God’s expectations are of us as leaders. Wouldn’t you agree?
“Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” I Corinthians 11:1