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Moses: An Unlikely Leader


Rosalyn Carter, former first lady, once said, “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”

Moses was just like that. He took the Israelites not where they wanted to go, but where God knew they had to be.

At the time of Moses' birth, the Israelites had been suffering in slavery in Egypt. Life had been miserable for generations. But when a new king assumed the throne, their lives took on a new dimension of cruelty. Pharaoh felt threatened by the sheer size of Israel, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.” To close that population gap, he demanded all Israelite babies murdered.

Moses' mother in a desperate effort to save her own precious baby hid him in a papyrus basket, sealed with tar and pitch, and set him afloat in the Nile River. We suspect she might have known God's Providence was already on this child and He would watch over him. Not only did Moses survive, he was chosen by God to lead His people out of their slavery and to a Promised Land. A little baby, crying for his mother, was God's choice to lead His people.

How often God uses unlikely means to achieve great things! Think of it!

Pharaoh's daughter rescued Moses from the river and raised him in the palaces of Egypt, where he grew in secular wisdom to be a powerful man. Eventually Moses abandoned Egypt for the desert, where God challenged him through many circumstances to grow in spiritual wisdom. When God confronted Moses in a burning bush, he submitted to a divine call to lead his own brothers and sisters from suffering.

But his mission for God was accompanied with great trepidation. When God called, Moses heard him, but questioned his own ability to handle the job: “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” (Ex. 3:11). Moses was terrified, and yet his heart heard, and he anchored his confidence in Almighty God. Moses heard God's promise that He was with him. “Certainly, I will be with you” (Ex. 3:12).

Moses' fears are like ours. We are ordinary, flesh-and-blood human beings. Just like Moses. And like Moses, we are also children of an extraordinary God who speaks to us through His Word. We must listen and anchor our hearts in the faithfulness of God.

Hey, friend, if we faithfully read and obey God's Word, He will transform our ordinary lives for His glory. He will take us not necessarily where we want to be, but where we ought to go. Certainly, He will be with us, just as He was with Moses. Believe it!

A Theology of Leadership

Moses was one of Israel's greatest leaders. Yet the Bible also describes him as the world's most humble person. Numbers 12:3 says that Moses was “a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” There is no contradiction here. The Bible's concept of leadership is not defined in terms of command or control. A truly biblical leader is a servant. Jesus warned His disciples not to follow the example of those leaders who “lord it over” others. Instead, those who wanted to be great were to serve, and the one who wished to be first among the disciples was to be “slave of all” (Mark 10:44).

Leadership is a form of stewardship. In Jesus' day stewards were responsible for the strategic management of their master's resources. They were expected to use their master's resources in a way that maximized the owner's interests (Matt. 25:25-27). Stewards were also charged with the care of other servants in the master's household (Matt. 24:45). These two areas of responsibility—the strategic management of God's resources and the nurture of God's people—are the primary spheres of concern for leaders in the church.

Leaders equip the church's members so they can maximize their potential in service to Christ (Eph. 4:11-13). They enable the church to exercise its stewardship of the grace of God (1 Peter 4:10). Biblical leadership is more than creating organizational structures and administrating programs. Ultimately, it is the work of developing people. It is no surprise, then, that one of the most important biblical images used to characterize the responsibility of leadership is the shepherd. The psalmist compares Moses to a shepherd (Ps. 77:20). Israel's judges and kings were also described as shepherds (1 Chron. 17:6; Jer. 23:1). Leaders of the church are commanded to be shepherds (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:1-3).

Sadly, it often seems as though the church has replaced the biblical model of leadership with one drawn from large secular corporations. Today's leaders seem to have more in common with the CEO and manager than the shepherd. Certainly, we can learn from these contexts. But the Bible's theology of leadership is grounded in a different metaphor. Biblical leaders are servants who shepherd the flock of God.

Amen, Pastor Roger! I love this study.

Moses was a 'type' or 'shadow' of the Redeemer to come

In Deuteronomy 18:15 Moses wrote - "The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethern, like unto me (Moses); unto him ye shall hearken;"

Moses is called the first Redeemer according to Jewish literature

The Messiah is called the Ultimate Redeemer

Both Moses & Jesus were born in a time of national bondage

Both appear after Israel waits for generations for redemption

Both are destined to break the bondage of Israel and lead them into the Promised land

Both perform unparalled signs & wonders to validate their ministry

Both fill the role of intercessor between God & the nation

Amen and when God returns again it will be to release His people from bondage once again and to return Israel to their rightful inheritance.

Hello Pastor Roger
That is why i believe that Jesus Christ is coming soon ,cause His people that are call by His name are under all kinds of bondage"physical or spiritual" there does not seem to have a way out of those bondage,
 except that He pick us up.
We are between the wall and the wallpaper.
I believe he is separating the good and the bad to see the one who has faith in Him and in His Name and is waiting for His return
(Revelation 3:11 KJV)" Behold I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Love in Jesus Def.
Come lord Jesus come let thy works be done.Amen

I bet you Abraham  Isaac Jacob O Jacob my friend my sweet friend are really making noise up there. So the Lord God can put a time for Israel to recognize Jesus Christ as the Son of God sent for them a long time ago ,(but their refusal  it was to our advantage)The plan of God unbelievable what a merciful God we have(John  3:16 For God so Loved the world)
"But only the Father will give the signal.
NOW CHARGE THE TIME IS AT HAND. because He is the only one that knows the time of the end!.
Love in Jesus Def