Leadership, chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Mark of a Leader - Willing to Call Upon God For Solutions

With the seemingly impossible barrier of the Red Sea before them, and the formidable army of an angry Pharaoh closing in from the rear, there was a need for an immediate answer to the problem.

One method of ‘Leadership Training’ advocates maintaining the unity of the group through consensus. This works by having a round-table discussion. The leader lays out the problem, offers several possible solutions and each member of the group either offers his own opinions, or says why one or the other views is better. After thorough discussion, supposedly all but the best solution will be cast aside. Harmony reigns. Even if failure follows, no one is to blame.

Imagine this method being applied to the problem Israel was facing at the Red Sea. Moses calls together the elders of the tribes. He points out the obvious; "Here comes a very angry Pharaoh who blames us for destroying his land and for the death of his son. What should we do?"
One might have said, "Let’s appease him." After kicking this idea around awhile it is decided that Pharaoh is looking for vengeance and not appeasement. This causes some to raise a cry that Moses is at fault and never should have started this whole ‘escape thing’. On and on the discussion could have gone as the sound of the chariots gets louder and the dust of their trail gets closer.

Other solutions are offered and discarded but, only from those who blamed Moses for their predicament, saying they wished they had stayed in slavery.

Moses was their leader and he did exactly what any leader of God’s people should do in such a case. He went to God. He had no doubts but that God would give them victory. He just wanted to know which way to turn. When God gave the answer, it was the epitome of simplicity. They were headed out of Egypt and toward the promised land. The course lay across the sea. Whether Pharaoh is on their heels or not is of no consequence whatsoever. Their course is to proceed as planned and let God handle the threat! "Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward." Exo 14:15

As God dispensed with the threat, the lesson became apparent. When we are following God’s plan and turn to Him for solutions to the problems which arise, things which appear to be obstacles can become mega-opportunities.

It is this truth which enabled Paul to rejoice in imprisonment and while in chains, lead jailors, ship crewmen, fellow prisoners and even rulers, to Christ. It gave the martyrs of the past the ability to praise God in persecution and death until it was said "Their blood is their seed". Today it still determines our effectiveness as individual Christians and as churches.

Job’s friend, Elihu, may have been one of the great intellectuals of his day. Some of the statements he made about God were true, yet some of the conclusions he expressed were false, and these are still making the rounds to confuse God’s people today.

One of these false ideas was, ‘The righteous will have no problems.’ Elihu’s philosophy would have said to Moses at the Red Sea, ‘You must have done something wrong or you wouldn’t be in this desperate situation now.’ Whenever preachers or any of God’s leaders are confronted with problems, there is invariably an ‘Elihu’ around, ready with the sage observation that, "You made a mistake. God wouldn’t have let this happen if you had been in the center of His will." Like Elihu, these critics stand ready to misapply Scripture and spread doubt and discouragement with great gusto.

If the preacher loses his car and his family is in need because of tightfisted folks who won’t part with the Lord’s money, he is sure to hear, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and these things will be added unto you.’ The idea being, he followed the wrong course. The ‘right’ course would have been to seek the counsel of the ‘Elihus’ and kow-tow to their whims.

Even in the midst of soul-rending church turmoil, pastors still hear, ‘God is not the author of confusion’ and, ‘Jesus said, My peace I give unto you’ as proof that the pastoral leadership has been lacking. This observation almost always comes from the one who has been the source of the problem in the first place.

The leader too, can fall into this trap if he allows himself to become so spiritually nearsighted that he focuses only upon the problem. Moses would have had reason for doubt and despair had he seen only the Red Sea before him, the army of Egypt approaching, and the people in turmoil around him. But the cloud is still there! Because of its presence, he is sure that God has led them to this spot and whatever the outcome may be, it is in His hands. Having put his trust in God up to this point, he was prepared to trust his guidance and help in the rest of the journey. This enabled him to give his victory cry (even before God had issued the instruction to proceed) ‘Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!’

This was not the time to call a meeting to develop a cunning strategy, but a time to allow God to express Himself. It wasn’t even necessary that the people have a full understanding of what was about to take place. It was absolutely essential, however, that their leader have total confidence in God’s ability to carry out His will. It was needful too, that he communicate this trust to the people. In times like these, if the leader wavers, the people panic!