Burden of Leadership: Listening and Paying Close Attention!
Can You Hear Him?
Yes, God has something to say; He is saying something to you. Are you listening?
Exodus 17:5-6 and Numbers 20:10-13 present two similar scenarios, involving One leader and one people, but different generations and commands. It speaks loud to the heavy burden placed on the shoulders of leaders in the household of faith - the Servants of God.
We cannot overemphasize the truth that prophets, apostles, evangelists, and pastor-teachers are servants of God and of Jesus Christ. Servants take orders from their masters. Jesus says, “A servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him” (John 13:16). So, the “art of listening”—and discerning—is critical. It is the essential qualification of a servant/leader in the body of Christ.
Spiritual leadership at any level is serious business. We should not take it lightly — leading the human species anywhere, anytime, is difficult. Indeed, not every person is ‘wired’ for leadership. However, one can acquire the art and skill of leadership or, better still, the Spirit can bestow leadership gifts on a believer. 1 Peter 2:5 puts all believers in the saddle of “royal priesthood, and a holy nation,” conferring the priestly title on all of us. Jesus is our High Priest. As believers serving in the office of a priest to the unbelieving world, we have a responsibility to lead.
Moses is one of the most outstanding leaders of men of all time. He was tailor-made and emotionally prepared to lead the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Numbers 12:3 says, “Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.”
Born in Egypt and raised in Pharaoh’s palace, Moses got an elite education and had the privilege of living like a prince. But because of his passion for his people, the Hebrews, Moses blew it up - seeking to liberate them from oppression. For casting his lot with the oppressed, Moses had to flee into exile in Median, where he took up the job of shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. There, in Horeb, God appeared to him and gave him the difficult assignment of confronting Pharaoh to demand the release of the Hebrews from slavery.
Our text, Numbers 20:10-13 speaks to Moses’s challenges at every twist and turn of leading the Israelites through the wilderness to the promised land. Twice, he stood for forty days and nights in the clouds - in God’s presence - pleading for their cause and received the Ten Commandments.
Yet he was frustrated and provoked. The Israelites provoked the meekest man on earth!
Moses was tired of being blamed for everything that went wrong. Year after year, he had gotten them through one disaster after another. Moses continually interceded on their behalf to keep them out of trouble. But all he got for his efforts was more grief. Finally, in exasperation, he said, “Listen, you rebels…Must we bring you water from this rock?” Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff.” (Num.20:10-11).
Four decades earlier, the previous generation had the same complaint: no water. God told Moses to strike a rock with his staff. When he obeyed, water gushed out - plenty of water (Exodus 17:6). In the divine plan, supernatural intervention is not an end in itself, but a means of teaching us that we can always trust and obey the leadership of almighty God. God had opened the Red Sea for the Israelites, then released the waters to overwhelm Pharaoh’s pursuing army.
When the grumbling started again many years later, Moses did the thing that had worked before. But this time, it was the wrong thing to do. What Moses told the Israelites to do - to listen - he had not done. God had told him to speak to the rock this time, not strike it.
Moses struck the rock twice!
Sometimes, in exhaustion and exasperation, we don’t pay close attention to God. We assume He will always work the same way. But He doesn’t. Sometimes, He tells us to act, sometimes to speak, and sometimes to wait. For Moses, it was a costly mistake for which there was no redemption. And this is what the Lord said to the leader of His recalcitrant people: “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” (v. 12).
Devastating!
Undoubtedly, Moses had looked forward to the day he would lead his people triumphantly into the promised land. But his lifelong ambition did not happen because he caved under pressure when it mattered most, thus dishonoring the LORD who called him. His “unpardonable” sin — the violation of God’s holiness— speaks volumes about the role of leaders in our Church communities and why leaders must always be careful to listen before taking action, especially under pressure. No leader is an island unto himself.
God knows - what is good for the goose is not always good for the gander. God might be asking you to change your approach and methodology to ministry.
Let us listen - then obey.
