Leadership Principals From the Life of Moses: Leadership Devotional

Have you ever been asked to do something that you lacked the confidence to do because of something that stood in your way?


If you have, your not alone. God called Moses to free the Israelites from their misery in Egypt. After God called Moses, he immediately started asking questions to avoid what he was being asked to do. "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" "What if they don't believe me, or listen to me and say, 'The Lord didn't appear to you?'"


Each time Moses asked a question God answered him. When God answered, he taught Moses exactly what to say so he could do what God was asking of him and the Israelites would listen to him.


Lets look at what happens in Exodus 4:10-17:

Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” 

The LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” 

But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” 

Then the LORD’S anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it.”

Now we see in verse 10 what Moses' real excuse is. Moses was not eloquent, and he was slow of speech and tongue. Some Bible scholars tend to think that Moses has a speech impediment. What I think it comes down to is that Moses was embarrassed by his inability to speak well in public, and was afraid that he would fail at the task God had given him.


I don't know about you, but I know exactly how Moses felt at that time. When I was in second grade my mom noticed that I couldn't read, so she had me tested. We found out that I have a learning disability called Dyslexia. In fact we were told that I had the worst case of Dyslexia the state of Oklahoma had seen up to that point. Because of my Dyslexia, I had to repeat second grade, attend special LAB classes to help me learn to read. Needles to say, I hated reading and had not confidence to read out loud.


I had to tell you that so I could tell you this story. You know how teachers love to ask their students to stand up and read in front of the entire class? Well, in third grade my teacher asked me to do just that. She wanted me to come to her podium at the front of the class and read from our book. At first, I just ignored her hoping that she would call on someone else, but that didn't work. So, she called me to read again. This time I asked, "Didn't you skip over the girl in front of me? I think its her turn." Then my teacher got a little mad at me and told me to get to the front of the class and read. I stood up, grabbed my book, walked to the teachers podium, and started reading. After just a little amount of reading some of the kids in the class started laughing at me. Then the teacher asked me to stop, she told me that I had read the same line of text like 5 times, and on top of that I wasn't even reading the right paragraph. Let me tell you, I was embarrassed! What was even worse what that then my teacher came over and helped me read like a baby! It was mortifying! I never wanted to read in public again.


Thats how I know what Moses was feeling at the time. Even though Moses was afraid he would fail, God assured Moses that He would help him. Even with God's help, Moses still asked for God to send someone else to do it. (Thats what I was trying to do the day the teacher asked me to read out loud).


This kinda made God a little mad with Moses. So God said, "You know what, I'm still going to use you. I'll send your brother Aaron to help you. I'll tell you what to say, you'll tell it to Aaron, the Aaron will speak it as if the words were coming out of your own mouth. Not only that, but take this staff with you so that you can perform miraculous signs with it.


You see what Moses lacked here is confidence. He had no confidence in  himself to do what God said He would help Moses do. Moses thought he would fail at Gods plans because of his difficulties. But what he didn't understand is that God's plans never fail. God ended up giving Moses confidence through his brother Aaron. God used Aaron as Moses' spokesman. When Aaron spoke to Pharaoh and to the Israelites, they know that he was speaking for Moses.


As church leaders, we must have enough confidence in ourselves to do whatever it is that God is calling us to do. After all, it is God who called us to do what we do, just like he did with Moses. We all have difficulties that stand in our way. Moses wasn't a good speaker, I'm not a good reader, and you may have other difficulties that stand in your way. But no matter what it is, God will help you through that difficult thing so that you can do what he has called you to do.


In the book "Developing the Leader Within You," John Maxwell points out that there is a large number of leaders out there that have had some sort of difficulty that they had to overcome. Franklin D. Roosevelt was in a wheelchair due to his poor health and paralysis, and he lead us through World War 2 as the President of the United States. Albert Einstein had Dyslexia and never finished school, and today he is know as one of the greatest scientists of all time. Napoleon was a very short and scrawny man that lead a huge army at the end of the French Revolution, concurred Europe, and became the Emperor of France.


These are just three out of many world leaders that had confidence and overcame their difficulties in life so they could do great things. Now think about this, God has called you to be a leader in his church and within His people. That means that he will help you to do what ever it is that He has called you to despite whatever difficulty you may face. Think about how much more you will be able to do than the greatest leaders of the world because God is with you and helping you do what he has called you do to.


This reminds me of two verses:
Philippians 4:13 (Message) "Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am."


Romans 8:31 (Message) "So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose?"

Things to think about:

1. What has God called you to do?

2. What difficulty stands in your way?

Once you've taken the time to think about those to questions, pray and ask God to help you overcome your difficulties and give you the confidence it takes to do what He has called you to do.