Called to Lead
Reflective Reading: Joshua 17-18
I was traveling today, which gave me an opportunity to browse in some of the airport bookstores. From Rochester to Detroit to Kansas City to Chicago to Cincinnati, I was able to view the latest and hottest books on leadership. Airports, you know, have a heavy emphasis on leadership titles because of the many businesspeople who travel. The selection today seemed to be greater than usual. A few caught my attention, as I am currently writing on leadership and was hoping to find some insightful new content.
Having read widely on this subject for my doctoral studies, I found some of my old favorites on the shelves. There they were, Built to Last, Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Good to Great, Outlier, Leading Change, Contrarian Leadership, and so many more. Five Dysfunctions of a Team is one of my favorites. Throughout its pages you will learn the causes of dysfunctional teams. You will learn why the development of trust, the need for courage in conflict, the embrace of accountability, and the attention to detail are prerequisites for a healthy organization. The other titles, including Change Is Like a Slinky, give excellent insight into what good leadership looks like and pitfalls to avoid. While each of these books is a must-read for any leader, they lack the three quintessential truths that cultivate a true-north leader.
Of all the people in history, the biblical character Joshua is one of my favorite leaders. Mentored by Moses and then by God Himself, Joshua had to learn these truths the hard way. Let’s travel back 3500 years and see what we can learn from this leader who had to feed, protect, prepare, govern, and inspire over two million people. Joshua, who has been walking in the shadow of Moses for the past 40 years, must now prove himself worthy to be followed.
Joshua’s new role as leader begins with two challenges of which God Himself will take the lead. God doesn’t just throw Joshua into the deep end to see if he can swim but helps him as he faces these two opposing encounters.
The first obstacle is the raging Jordan River. With the water approximately 10 feet deep and picking up rapid speed from its 2500-foot descent, Joshua is facing a formidable obstacle. But God is going to prove his word true to Joshua.
“There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Joshua 1:5).
We know the story. God intervenes and stops the Jordan River about 25 miles upstream, and all of Israel crosses on dry land. The second obstacle takes place at the royal city and military outpost, Jericho. This is a bigger test. As soon as Joshua crosses the river, his enemies will be waiting for him! But God collapses the walls of Jericho with marching, music, and shouting. So far, so good concerning Joshua’s leadership, but God has been doing most of the work! Hmm, I wonder if God would do this for me when encountering obstacles?
Joshua has had it quite easy for his first week as a leader. Let’s see how week two goes as he faces some new challenges. I’m sure leading this many people with an entire country of enemies waiting will provide some interesting drama. Though it would be nice to experience continuous victories, defeat and discouragement are often the best teachers. The next challenge will give Joshua his first real taste of leadership. He is assigned to destroy the next city on the map—Ai. But no worries. It’s a small city without any real military might compared to Israel. What a great way to break in a new leader.
So, heading northwest from Jericho, Joshua sends out a reconnaissance team to survey the defenses of Ai. I would give Joshua an A for this first order. Even though a small challenge, he is gathering all the information he needs to make a good decision. The scouts report that the city could easily be taken by a small group of soldiers of two to three thousand. Joshua is satisfied and agrees to send a small battalion of three thousand. I would give Joshua an F for this order. An F?! Yes, this is a terrible decision, as you will find out. As the soldiers invade the city, to their surprise, the men of Ai pack a powerful punch, setting all the Israeli soldiers to flee, killing thirty-six of them.
What went wrong? Leadership lesson one: Ask God first and then wait for His answer! How could Joshua forget to ask God, after all he’s learned the past 40 years? Prayer is a leader’s secret weapon. Pray without ceasing, or you’re the captain of a sinking ship. Let’s see how Joshua responds to his first defeat:
“And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?” (Joshua 7:6-9).
It sounds like Joshua is whining and blaming God for this defeat. The blame game—used by so many leaders. They face a little resistance, and it’s everyone else’s fault. The plain truth is that organizations rise and fall on leadership, and if you’re the leader, then you are responsible. Those who are fully trained will become like their teacher (Luke 6:40). The people you lead are often a reflection of your leadership. Obviously, there are some situations where a good leader is betrayed and maligned, but even if this occurs, a good leader will not blame. He will follow God’s direction on how to deal with difficult people:
“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26).
Find a leader who conducts himself like that, and you have found pure gold!
In the book A Tale of Three Kings, Gene Edwards describes God’s design for the preparation of a leader. In this powerful short story, Edwards presents three antagonists who prepare David to become king. Joab, Absalom, and King Saul cause David immense pain and opposition. Two of them try to kill David and the third works deceitfully behind his back, eventually murdering his son. As painful as this opposition is for David, and as difficult it is to endure two decades of fleeing for his life, it is this training that prepares David to become one of the greatest kings in world history.
As I read this book and studied David’s life from the Scriptures, I was left with several impressions:
When someone throws a spear at you, don’t throw it back. Learn the art of “ducking” rather than the art of spear throwing.
If you blame others for the opposition, you’ll eventually turn the color of bitter.
Adversaries are God’s anointed messengers who, though they may mean it for evil, God always means it for good.
Now back to Joshua. Let’s see how God responds to Joshua’s blame game with this contemporary rendering of Joshua 7:10:
“The LORD answered: Stop lying there on the ground! Get up!”
In other words, stop blaming others and do something; stop moping around. Now that God has Joshua’s attention, He drives home one of the most important lessons on leadership for all of us to heed. And God said to Joshua, the reason you experienced defeat is because:
“Israel hath sinned!”
There it is—the root problem to most conflict, most opposition, most difficult situations is sin. Long ago I learned that keeping short sin accounts is the key to a joyful, peaceful, and guilt-free life. Apologize and repent right away; don’t let sin fester—don’t let pride steal your freedom.
After God tells Joshua the root cause of his defeat, He commands Joshua to get up and find out who has sinned in the camp. This is a serious moment for Joshua. If he deals with this hidden sin softly, Joshua will face grave consequences. God says to him:
“I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.”
Now that’s serious. This same warning is true today. It is true for our organizations, our churches, and our families. Yes, God is a God of grace, mercy and love, but He will not allow sin to be glossed over. He means what He says and says what He means. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
So Israel’s forward motion has stopped. There will be no more victories until sin is dealt with. Upon finding the prideful perpetrator of this crime, Joshua must now face his most difficult assignment. He must carry out the death penalty for a member of the community and his entire family, who were complicit in the deed. I can’t imagine how that event must have etched a mark on Joshua’s character. He learned an important lesson that day. Sin must not be taken lightly.
So there you have it. Great leaders learn to pray and wait for answers before they move forward, even with seemingly easy victories. Great leaders don’t blame others, but they see conflict as divine appointments and adversaries as God’s anointed. And lastly, great leaders don’t rest until sin has been exposed and dealt with.
This all sounds like a nice way to bring this to a close, but I need to ask a question before we end. Why would anyone want to lead? Joshua saw all the problems in the wilderness. He saw how the people wanted to stone Moses. He listened to their ungrateful complaining for forty years. Who would want this position? Really, why do people want to lead? Sadly, many leaders lead because they want to be in control. They will fall eventually. Many leaders lead because they enjoy the spotlight. They will fall eventually. Some leaders lead because they are compelled by some Invisible Force and Divine Influence, and these are the leaders who are called by God.
I’ve lived long enough to see world-renowned, charismatic leaders fall. I’ve seen prideful executives fall. I’ve even witnessed the fall of men who were called. None of us is exempt from falling, for when we think we stand, take heed lest we fall.
God’s calling upon a leader is compelling. It is a calling to a sacrificial life of service to others. It is about dying to self, taking up your cross and following Christ wherever He leads. It is about persevering during hard times. It is about praying, pleading, and experiencing the power of God. It is about realizing that it is not by might, nor by strength, but by His Spirit.
If you are called, you will not blame, but pray for God’s deliverance. If you are called, you will know that each challenge and each adversary is heaven-sent as God’s anointed. If you are called, then you must never forget:
“Faithful is he who calls you, who will also do it” (I Thessalonians 5:24).
Sincerely,
Mark Hamby
M.S., M. Div., Th. M., D. Min.
Recommended Reading/Listening:
Come What May Book/Audio Book(Ages 12+)
You’ll be on the edge of your seat until the very end as Proverbs 1 is acted out through heart-wrenching decisions. I caution you to suspend judgment until the very end, for everything isn’t always as it seems. This is leadership learned by fire.
The Captive Book/Audio Drama (Ages 9+)
Two boys are kidnapped by Algerian pirates and sold into slavery. What the Islamic slave master doesn’t realize is that God is with these boys!
Tip Lewis and His Lamp Book/Audio Drama (Ages 12+)
Tip is a leader, but not the kind you’d want in your Sunday School class. Not only is he full of sarcasm and provocations, he is the naughtiest boy in school, until he hears a story that compels him to come face-to-face with who he is and who he would like to become.
