There is no doubt about it, some people are natural leaders while others prefer to just follow someone else. Perhaps they don’t have the self confidence to take the lead, or perhaps they just can’t be bothered making the effort.
How do we know we can be a leader if we aren’t sure about these things? The quickest way is to turn around and see if there is anyone following you! We might feel that we aren’t important enough or have anything to offer….but, what is that in your hand? Moses had every excuse under the sun when God accosted him out in the desert and told him to go and tell the king of Egypt to let His people go.
“How can I do that? I’m not important enough,” was his first excuse.
Then he said, “The people won’t listen to me. What do I tell them when they ask whose idea this is?”
God was very patient with Moses, and He said, “Look, I will be with you. Just tell the people that ‘I AM’ has sent you; the One Who spoke to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob years ago. That is My Name. When you tell them that, they will listen.”
“But what if they don’t?” Moses persisted.
“What is that in your hand?” God asked.
Moses looked at his shepherd’s stick, and said, “It’s my rod.”
“Throw it down on the ground,” God said.
So he did, and immediately it became a wriggling snake, and Moses hastily got away from it.
“Now pick it up by its tail,” God said, and as Moses reached out his hand and grabbed it, suddenly he found he had his stick back! Twice more, God had to show Moses the miraculous things that would happen when he did what he was told.
But he still hung back. “I can’t talk well enough”, was his next excuse.
God’s patience started to wear thin. “Who made your mouth?” He demanded. “Very well, I know your brother Aaron is a good talker. He is coming to meet you now. Take him with you, and he can do your talking for you and you will tell him from Me what he is to say.”
Moses finally agreed, and did as God had told him, and became one of the greatest leaders there has ever been.
We can see several things from this story that can apply to us. Firstly, we may think we are only an unimportant person, but if God is calling us to do something for Him, He will give us the strength. Not only that, but He will be with us as we make a start, and will give us others to support us in the task that He wants us to do. That is on God’s side. On the other hand, we have to respond on our side. We have to be willing to hear His voice and obey what He is saying to us.
As we make the first move, God will step in and open up the doors for us. All we have to do is to use what we have.
Perhaps you feel you are only a mother with little children, and ask what you could possibly do. Well, you have the most important job in the world, that of shaping the attitudes and manners of the little ones in your charge. All too soon they will grow up and be gone. Be a worthy leader under God’s direction, of your home and family, and He will bless you in it.