DAY 183- BIG PICTURE IN A YEAR - THE WILDERNESS
So, I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you - as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials.
Deuteronomy 1:15
Reading: Exodus 3; Numbers 14:4; Acts 6:1-4, Hebrews 13:17
One of the hardest things any person who becomes a Christian must learn, is submission. Everything in our rebellious hearts rises in revolt when we even hear that word. It’s a hated word.
And this is exactly why God used leadership as the fifth way to shape His people into a united, well-disciplined nation.
The calling and preparation of Moses as a leader of God’s people is well documented - the whole process took eighty years. Any leader who started their ministry at eighty years old today would be considered a failure before they even started but God’s ways are not our ways. God appointed and sent Moses in the story of the burning bush that is recorded in Exodus 3. God commissioned him to lead Israel out of captivity, and to appoint leaders over the people.
How did the people respond to Moses’ leadership? Even though Moses was so clearly called and commissioned by God, there were times when his fellow leaders and the people resisted him. The consequences were severe – frustration, delay, death and tragically, loss of inheritance. Very few of that first generation ever saw the promised land.
Unfortunately, this condition of rebellion against the leaders that God sends is still causing God’s people to lose out on His perfect plan for them. It is easy to find reasons to not follow the leaders that God sends into your life. Their flaws, weaknesses and sins are obvious and they easily cause us to forget that it is God’s appointment, not their perfect lives, that qualifies them for leadership.
Don’t be short-sighted in this regard and thus miss your inheritance. As God prepares your life to carry His authority, He will instruct you to receive and submit yourself to His imperfect, yet appointed, leaders. Do so and you will enjoy great reward.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I thank you that you are the head of the world-wide church and of my local church. Deal with my mistrust of you when I don’t want to submit to the leaders that you have appointed in my life.
For the family
Watch this representation of the Tabernacle and explain what the different elements and pieces of furniture mean.