Roles of Leadership

Almost every human holds some form of roles in leadership. Many of our roles position us as leaders. Parents, teachers, social media influencers, friends, sisters, and our roles at work all can position us as leaders. 

  

We either lead with positive or negative impact. Our roles of leadership can result in success or failure. The Bible is filled with good and bad leaders. One of my favorite character studies is the study of Joshua whom God chose as Israel’s leader after Moses’ death. 

• Take a moment to read Joshua 1:1-9

Moses’ death was unique in that God called Moses to come up a mountain alone with Him to die, and God buried Moses Himself. Not a lot of closure for those Moses left behind. I believe that is why God spoke so clearly to Joshua in Joshua 1:2 saying, “Moses My servant is dead.” Then God gave Joshua instructions to rise up and go into the land He promised to give to him and the Israelites. 

Without God’s clear communication, Joshua and the Israelites might have let mourning and fear overtake them and keep them from all God wanted to give them. Can you imagine how hard it would have been for Joshua and the Israelites to pick up and move forward into the Promised Land without Moses? For years they had followed Moses on a long journey to get them to the final destination of the Promised Land. How could they think Moses would not be the one to lead them there?

However, God ordained another man trained under Moses’ leadership to lead His people into their Promised Land. Joshua experienced God in and through his close relationship with Moses. He even went up the mountain with Moses when he met with God. 

Joshua, Israel’s Next Leader

Deuteronomy 34:9 gives us two qualifiers for Joshua as the next leader. 

Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Deuteronomy 34:9

However, the next few verses, Deuteronomy 34:10-12 give us a powerful picture of the kind of leadership the Israelites experienced with Moses.  

But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders

which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land,

and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of Israel.

Deuteronomy 34:10-12

Can you imagine following in the footsteps of Moses? How do you think Joshua felt when God gave him the role and instructions as Israel’s next leader? I am quite confident Joshua felt some fear in measuring up to Moses’ leadership. God’s words to Joshua in Joshua 1:2-9 only confirm my assumption. 

In verses 5, God promised Joshua, 

“No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life; 

as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.

Joshua 1:5

• In verse 6, God tells Joshua to “be strong and of good courage.” 

• In verse 7 God restates, “Only be strong and very courageous.” 

• In verse 9 God restates, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage.”

Fear In Leadership

I get the sense God knows Joshua is freaking out on the inside. Otherwise, why did God repeatedly tell him to stay strong and courageous. I totally understand why Joshua would have been shaking in his sandals. At the same time, I find encouragement that a man we remember today as a mighty warrior leader experienced fear when God called him to lead His people. Leadership can be a very scary thing! 

So far, we see Joshua’s qualifiers for him in his roles of leadership as being full of wisdom, and He was affirmed by his past leader and mentor. And best of all, God assured Joshua of His presence remaining with him as He was with Moses. Not bad! 

If we look at God’s instruction sandwiched between His “be strong and of good courage statements in Joshua 1:7-8, we see conditions to the success of his leadership. 

Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Joshua 1:7-8

To prosper and succeed in receiving and attaining God’s promises, Joshua must stay true and obedient to God’s word and lead the Israelites to do the same. Ultimately obeying God’s law would require them knowing it.

Conditional Success

One of the things I noticed when studying Joshua’s story is how true he stayed to God’s word.  God’s instruction really mattered to him. He took God’s word to heart and walked in obedience. Joshua commanded and led the Israelites based on all that God spoke to Him. 

Let’s remember that God’s word, instruction, commands, precepts, should be applied to our own life as well. 

If God called us and gave us promises, we need to apply this to our lives as well. If our obedience to God’s word equals our success in our God ordained ventures and leadership roles, shouldn’t we follow the guidance and teaching He gave us in the Scriptures? Which leads me to pose yet another question. How can we be obedient to God’s word without knowing it? 

Let me regress a moment back to Moses for a moment. In Deuteronomy 34 we learn that Moses died on Mount Nebo alone with God. 

In 2017, my husband and I went to Israel. Our tour guide was a messianic Christian who knew God’s word as thoroughly as anyone I ever met. When we drove past Mount Nebo, he pointed it out as the place where Moses died and told us about his confirmation as a Jewish boy stepping into adulthood. One of his rites of passage was held on Mount Nebo. He had hiked up Mount Nebo and recited the entire book of Song of Solomon, all the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134) and one of the books of the Old Testament prophets (which one, I now can’t remember).  

How Much Do We Really Value God’s Word?

Sounds pretty impressive to me. However, what really stands out is how much our tour guide and his family valued the word of God. As Christians, most of us say we value God’s word, but do we really? How can we value what we don’t know and experience for ourselves? God’s purpose behind His instruction to obedience to His word and law was that we prosper and succeed. 

In Joshua 1:7-8, the words prosper and success or sakal in the original Hebrew language mean to act with insight, to be prudent, to give insight, to teach, to prosper, to consider, to ponder, to understand, to act prudently, to act with devotion. That’s probably not how we currently define those terms. Prosperous, or tsalach in Hebrew means to rush, to advance, prosper, make progress, succeed, be profitable. 

God’s estimation of prospering is so much more than our understanding. It isn’t so much about money, wealth, or material things as we often define success and prosperity, but so much more. This same Hebrew verb, tsalach, was used in Judges 9:6, 9; 15:14; 1 Samuel 16:13, describing the effect of the Holy Spirit on persons, making them powerful. Sometimes tsalach is used to identify something or someone as succeeding, and one time, in Numbers 14:41 Moses used tsalach to recognize that some actions are not able to succeed. 

And Moses said, 

“Now why do you transgress the command of the Lord?

For this will not succeed.” 

Numbers 14:41

Staying True To God’s Word

One of Joshua’s character traits is how true he stays to God’s word. God’s instruction really mattered to him. He took God’s word to heart and walked in obedience. Joshua commanded and led the Israelites based on all that God spoke to Him. And Joshua succeeded and prospered in his leadership and in attaining God’s promises. 

In our God given calling and roles of leadership, there is no greater prosperity or success than the Holy Spirit making us powerful. At the same time, God’s word promised success and prosperity (not just financial/material wealth) as the result of His people knowing, following, and obeying His word. 

So dear Sister in Christ, I implore you to treasure and walk in obedience to God’s word so that you too will make your way prosperous and have good success.