Leadership what is the Key

 

 

Joshua 19:49-50

 

 

As you read the Scriptures, it has a lot to say about leadership, we see many lessons on the right and the wrong kinds of leaders.  But what is the one key element that is essential to good leadership and what are examples from the Scriptures of men who had it?  It was key for Noah, Abraham,  Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Gideon, Isaiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul.  What was the key item that set them apart as leaders, you could say many things about each of these men, but the key to all was faith, it was the victory, yet we will see that unlike many who may have been more gifted they put faith not in man, nor self, but in a God who was unseen?  They just believed in God and were obedient to what He told them to do.  As you study the life of these leaders, they came from all walks of life, they learned to stand alone, to obey God even when everything in them said it’s impossible, they obey God’s command.

 

But we also have many examples of men who had all kinds of skill sets, were very gifted with both talents, and came from families with wealth, and they look for the role of a leader but drop the ball.  One such man was the first king of Israel Saul.  Saul was handpicked by God the prophet Samuel was used by God to anoint him and give him God’s blessing.  Saul came from a well-respected family and they had wealth and standing among the people.  And Saul had faith in God to a degree, but he also had faith in Saul, and in what he saw.  He was fearful of the people and tried to be a pleaser of men and not of God.  But Saul is not alone in that area of life, many a man has begun strong, but they are men pleaser, and not God pleaser, and it always ends badly for them.

 

Joshua was not that kind of man, he believed in God and was an example to all who desire to be leaders, for example when all the people, the different tribes had been given their part of the land promised by God, Joshua had not carved out any for himself.  But God, the God Joshua, trusted and obeyed, came through, let us look at the account in Joshua 19:49-50, When they had finished distributing the several territories of the land as inheritances, the people of Israel gave an inheritance among them to Joshua the son of Nun.  By command of the Lord, they gave him the city that he asked, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. And he rebuilt the city and settled in it.  What can you and I learn from these two verses, leader, put others first, they walk by faith and not by feel, and when they drop the ball, they seek forgiveness.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice