True leadership serves a greater good than one’s own success. Servant-leadership has always been forged in the extreme heat of the furnace. Not understanding the nature of the heat or avoiding the intensity of this forging can damage both leaders and their leadership.
Watching Moses pass through the biblical furnace of leadership training, we can identify a number of the molding forces that are so vital for those entering leadership roles today.
1. The Desolate Desert
Moses permanently lost his position, influence, and golden opportunity in the Egyptian royal court when he angrily killed a cruel oppressor. The future in the desert is hazy, uncertain, and meaningless. Moses quietly shepherded the flock of his wife’s family for the next 40 years.
He did not suspect that he was being trained in leadership style like a shepherd, as opposed to the iron leadership style of the Pharaoh’s court in which he was originally trained.
The desert is a place of obscurity and seemingly comprised of futile, anonymous work. Why was the whole life of the “prince of preachers” (Charles Spurgeon) burdened with depression? We do not know, but we see in hindsight that this crucible has brought glorious hope to countless people.
Have you been wandering in any arid wilderness in your life? What visions or abilities are germinating in you that you don’t yet notice?
2. Persistent rejection
“Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us?” (Numbers 16:13). The ingratitude, hard-heartedness, and quick condemnation of the people toward Moses were repeated over and over again. Moses got angry, didn’t know what to do with the Israelites, and then dissuaded God from destroying the people. He became a quietly humble man, more so than anyone.
Inability to bear misunderstandings, resentments, and occasional coldness from those you work so hard to serve can cause a leader to harden his heart, to shrink back and counterattack bitterly. On the other hand, he may open his heart to be molded into a gentle, understanding person who steadfastly maintains the purpose to which he is called.
Are you under pressure to give up in bitterness or to respond emotionally? Our gaze can be lifted higher to let the heat of public opinion refine us.
3. Leadership Rivalry
What might have hurt the heart of Moses more deeply than the crowd’s rejection was his dear sister Miriam’s turning against his spiritual authority. Miriam had once risked her life to follow the infant Moses to protect him, to connect him to his mother’s milk, and perhaps to support him during his clash with Pharaoh, the powerful monarch of the Egyptian empire, but now she publicly challenged Moses’ authority in front of the people.
What will you and I do in the face of a power-struggle from someone close to you? Shall we seek to destroy the challenger, to nip the opposition in the bud or should we abdicate all power to pacify the situation? Moses’ humility brought him closer to the One who called him to the ministry, placed his trust in Him more firmly, and matured him as an intercessor for Miriam’s healing (Numbers 12:13).
How can we have the strength to maintain self-control in the face of slanderous words from those close to us, not repaying evil for evil, but remaining steadfast in the call?
You may still be studying or have graduated a long time ago, but the school of leadership lasts a lifetime. To be true leaders, we should not shy away from the shaping forces of reality. Jesus still asks those who want to enter leadership roles: “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38b).
Dr. Linh Doan
Newsletters, July 2023.
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