When Nothing Is Happening!

Moses is one of my favorite characters in the Bible! He is the one who, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, authored the first five books of the Old Testament. One of the things he wrote about himself that kinda baffles me is when he describes himself as being “ … a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth”. (Num.12:3. Now, that doesn’t sound very humble, does it? But in fact, he was. To understand Numbers 12:3, you’ll need to understand the meaning of the word “humility”. Many of us practice false humility while true humility … well … that will be a topic for another day.

What happened when Moses went up to the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments? There was chaos in the valley! The Israelite rebelled, got involved in idolatry, made Aaron the leader of Israel, and got into all kinds of sin and debauchery. It seemed that Aaron had no choice but to be the leader of the people’s choice.

So here we have … a right leader and a wrong leader; one of God and the other of men. While I am a firm believer in leadership, I am aware that there is a distinction between secular and spiritual leadership. I don’t like the word secular. As a person, I am both secular and spiritual. I think finding a balance is important. But in terms of leadership, there is a way the world leads and there is a way the Kingdom of God leads. Personally, I think it’s a bad idea to get directions from the world systems. Didn’t God give us a clue when He said, “My ways are not your way, neither my thoughts your thoughts”?

When Moses went up to the mountain, he was away indefinitely. I mean, he himself didn’t know how long he will be away. You and I now know it took 40 days. God could have given Moses the commandments in just a moment but He took 40 days. One of the reasons I believe is to test His people. Well, they failed the test. 40 days of doing nothing and some smart aleck decided that Moses was a bad leader … no goals, no plans, no projections, no flowcharts, no power point. So that smart aleck decided to replace Moses and influenced others to rebel against and replace him. They appointed Aaron. Mind you, these are smart people. Otherwise they could not have organized such a coup. It took a lot of influence and convincing! Long story short, their leadership failed and they failed badly. What worked in Egypt (the world system then) did not work for Israel. Moses’ position was restored (not that he had lost it in the first place) because God always has His final say.

What’s the lesson for today? If you are in a group discussion now, there will be plenty of nuggets you can dig. In this world system, leadership is built on personalities. We think we need a strong vision caster, a motivator, a decisive manager, someone with a driven nature, someone who can infuse the whole organization with strength. So one day when the anti-Christ comes, the whole world will worship this man and say, “He’s the man. He’s the new Moses.” You’ve been warned! So what’s the lesson for today? Spiritual leadership is not built on a personality. It’s built entirely on Jesus Christ who is the Head of the Church.

I mentioned Numbers 12:3 earlier. What’s the difference between Moses’ leadership and that of the world system? Humility! Moses said in Exodus 33:15-17, “Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name." Alas, the very words of Jesus, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5)

If the church today would stay strong, it should not be learning from the world systems. The church must come back to the recognition that Jesus is the Head of the church and that HE will build His church. We just have to get out of the way and let Him build His church. And if we will work with Jesus, we will learn a thing or two about real leadership.

One thing about spiritual leadership, when everything is “quiet”, that don’t mean God is not at work. Sometimes to do nothing is the right thing to do. The world says, “Don’t just stand still. Do something!” God says, “Don’t just do anything. Stand still and know that I am God.” When nothing is happening, something is happening!

Today, I am writing in seasons. God bless.