Leadership, chapter 3 for 5/01/06

CHAPTER THREE

Moses Being Prepared To Lead

There is a greater similarity between Egypt during the period of Israel’s bondage and present day society, than most realize. While families are not yet forbidden outright, they are certainly discouraged. Parents are encouraged to practice all manner of control, up to and including the killing, by the act of abortion , those babes deemed to be excessive.

After the infant Moses had been plucked from the river by Pharaoh's daughter, the parallels to modern society become even more striking. The child belonged to Pharaoh, (the government) but was given to his own family to raise. When old enough for school , he was educated in the ways prescribed by the State. Today, parents are legally responsible for the well-being of the child, but they are to be educated in those things the State dictates.

Christian parents can take comfort, however, from the example of Moses. He was steeped in the learning and culture of Egypt to the extent that it is said in Acts 17:22, ‘he was learned in all the ways of the Egyptians.’ yet the early training of his own parents seemed to have been effective. When the time came for him to make a life choice, he 'chose to suffer the affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a little season'. Heb. 11:25

Though the State insists upon teaching all manner of error in our public schools, the cause is not hopeless as long as parents are willing to instill Christian values in their children, and give them a basic knowledge of the Word of God, which can be used as a foundation for proper choices later. Only after a child has been thoroughly taught at home, is it safe to turn him over to the world for further education.

Apparently, Moses had been taught to be very discriminating in the things he accepted. There is no indication that he ever countenanced Egypt’s multiple gods or that he doubted the God of Israel even though his first recorded personal encounter with ‘I AM’ did not occur until he was eighty years old! This certainly speaks well for the influence of a dedicated mother’s instruction. The Egyptians also held many strange ideas about the beginnings of all things, and yet not one of those errors crept into his writing of the Book of Genesis.

There was much of his early training as a prince of Egypt which no doubt was of value to him in his position as the leader of Israel, but the most important knowledge, by far, came from his parents and from his forty year 'school of shepherding' in the service of his Midianite father-in-law. Here he learned the humility and patience which had been notably lacking before, and without which, no man can truly lead God’s ‘sheep’.

He recognized the plight of his people and had a sincere desire to relieve them of their oppression. Perhaps, he even had some inkling of his eventual destiny of leading them, though not yet called by God for the job. Whatever the circumstance, he ran ahead of God and slew an Egyptian and attempted to correct an Israelite and as a result found himself rejected by both Israel and Egypt. It is not enough to have a desire to be a leader of God’s people.. We must wait upon Him for the 'when' and the 'how'.

Jacob’s deceiving of his father in order to obtain the blessing was another tragic example of getting ahead of God. This is still a mistake often made by those who are called of God. It has been said that a young preacher is like a wasp, in that he is larger when first hatched than at any other time in his life!

If God had intended for the Hebrews to remain in Egypt and perhaps, eventually, to assume the power of the government there, then the training of Moses in the Wilderness of Midian would have been unnecessary. But they would not be remaining there. They would be travelling through this wilderness and would need a guide who was familiar with it. Patience would be needed in the one who would lead God’s flock and Moses learned it as he tended his father-in-law’s sheep. Humility would also be needed and he learned it as he plunged from the status of favored prince to fugitive in one fell swoop. As the nation’s leader he must be attentive to the voice of God and he learned to listen in the forty years of desert silence.

Only after a personal encounter with 'I AM' was Moses ready to assume the position for which God had been preparing him in the first eighty years of his life! His mother had taught him faithfully. The Egyptians had educated him thoroughly. The sheep and the desert had tested and proved him. Yet, until God called him, he was only an Israelite-Egyptian-fugitive-prince-shepherd.

The leader of God’s people must be absolutely sure of his calling. This certainty can come only from experience. One is sure of salvation only after experiencing the new birth. Likewise, a call to the ministry must be experienced to be understood. When one has undergone this in himself, he will have no doubts that he has been called by God for the task. Though Moses had personal failings after this experience, he never once questioned the power or the authority of the one who had chosen him. Men, family, and Satan may question your motives and you may doubt your own ability, but you must be absolutely sure that the work you undertake for Him is His will and that He wants YOU to do it! If you aren’t sure, then keep herding the sheep in Midian until you are.

Even before the encounter at the burning bush was ended, a personal weakness caused Moses to question God’s ability to fit him for the job. Moses had no doubt as to the person or the power of 'I AM'. There was no question about the need for someone to deliver a message to Pharaoh. The nation of Israel sorely needed someone to deliver them from bondage, "but, I am slow of tongue-". The question can only be asked as a matter of rhetoric, for there can be no sure answer, but How much greater could the accomplishments of Moses have been, had he but accepted the full responsibility for the task God had given? True, he still became one of the most effective leaders ever to stand before God’s people, but the one given to him as a mouthpiece, Aaron, was sometimes a stumbling block and hindrance, instead of help.

Gideon had the same lack of self-confidence in the beginning. He was from a small family in a small tribe and couldn’t picture himself as a warrior, leading an army! If the negative attributes of any man are emphasized, then no one is qualified for any job in God's service. The apostle Paul evidently had something wrong with his eyes and some said that 'though his writing was weighty, his bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible'. 2 Cor 10:10

Pictures of Dr. Ben M. Bogard (a venerated leader among Missionary Baptists) show him to be a man of somewhat less than imposing stature. Recordings of some of the great evangelists of the past, reveal that some of them had speaking voices , not really suitable for oratory. There have been many who, though steeped in Biblical knowledge, continually ‘murdered’ the English language. Peter had an uncanny ability to put his foot in his mouth! Yet these became great in God’s service in spite of their shortcomings because they were confident that they were God’s men, on God’s mission and, by the Grace of God, they would do the work and finish their course by His power! 2 Cor 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.