Change is inevitable. As things move and change around us, we can stand strong because our God is absolutely unchanging. And we take courage from the fact that we know He holds the future.
But as leaders, what should we be paying most attention to, during turbulent times of change? The previous post looked at an example from the book of Acts that shows how the Apostles pivoted without being distracted or losing focus. It actually required a major restructure in the way they did things. In fact, having a fresh understanding of leadership, particularly how leadership is structured, may be a key for us too, as we move forward into the future. It certainly seems to be one of the things the Bible points us towards.
A fresh understanding of leadership
Moses provides another example of someone having to re-look at their own leadership, gain a fresh understanding and make structural changes to how they lead. In the early chapters of Exodus, God tells Moses that He is going to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and to the land He has promised (Exodus 3:7-10).
Just as God calls leaders today, Moses’ role is to clearly listen to God’s leading and bring the people into the fulfilment of what God is doing. However, when Jethro later visits Moses, instead of continuing to listen to God, he finds Moses tied up in an endless line of people, listening to them.
The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”
Exodus 18:13-16 (NIV, emphasis added)
Moses alone had taken on the role of judge. And he was doing it “for the people.” When Jethro asks why he is doing this, Moses answers “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will.”
As leaders today can inadvertently find ourselves in a similar position – focused primarily on people, meeting needs, giving advice, and pulled in a multitude of directions. However, Jethro sees the bigger picture and responds, “What you are doing is not good.”
A major restructure of leadership
Jethro realizes that Moses needs a fresh understanding of his primary role. As leader, he has to come back to listening to primarily to God, not spending all day listening to people. As a result, Moses will need to totally restructure his leadership. Jethro’s outline of the role of a leader is also incredibly good advice for us to take note of today:
- “Be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to Him” (Exodus 18:19).
In other words, point the people to God, not to yourself. God is the judge, not you. Moses needs to make sure he is listening to God first and foremost, not the people. Moses needed to embody a fresh understanding of his role and responsibilities. He needed a change of focus. - “Teach them the decrees and laws” (Exodus 18:20a).
Moses’ primary responsibility towards people was to teach God’s Word, not be the dispenser of wisdom, judgment or decision making for them. Moses was to set the foundation and the boundaries that God required. Setting a good foundation would enable them to understand for themselves, what was right and wrong in God’s eyes. The people should never be dependent on him. - “Show them the way to live” (Exodus 18:20b).
Moses had to model God’s ways with his life. This meant modeling how to listen to God and put Him in first place. - “Show them…the duties they are to perform” (Exodus 18:20c).
Moses had to show the Israelites how to do what they needed to do, and then release them into it. The people had a responsibility to step up into fully becoming the people of God.
Can you see how Jethro’s instructions to Moses forms an incredibly clear outline of a leader’s role that applies right through to today?
A fresh look at how we lead
What’s interesting about this story in Exodus 18 is that we find the Apostles applied the same principles in Acts 6. The Apostles could easily have been distracted and caught up in solving problems as the early church grew. But they rightly identified the main thing they were called to. This was to pay attention to prayer and to focusing on the Word of God (Acts 6:4). In other words, as leaders, they needed to pay attention to God, rather than people (see previous post for more).
So here’s the challenge. If Jethro came to visit you tomorrow, what would he say to you? Is there a possibility that he would look at all that you are involved in and say, “What you are doing is not good”? Would he have some helpful advice for you, just as he had for Moses? It’s worth thinking about.
