Day Twenty-Nine: The growth of leadership in Joshua
So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again. However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
Joshua wasn’t always a giant killer; he started off as a young man with raw and sometimes clumsy potential.
I love the fact that God in his grace doesn’t exclude the men (whose names mean “God has loved” and “beloved”) who for whatever reason didn’t join the others but stayed in the camp…..And….how human is Joshua? “Moses my Lord, stop them!” He says. He feels their lack of commitment to turn up disqualifies them from deserving to partake in the rewards! This is the same Joshua that God says later Deuteronomy 34:9.
Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom” (and then it gives the reason) “because Moses had laid his hands on him.“
Joshua didn’t always get it right, and nor did Moses, they were both very human and flawed; in fact, Moses got angry many times and in the end, as a result, he didn’t get to set foot in the promised land. That, however, didn’t limit the growth of wisdom and leadership in Joshua’s life and didn’t stop the impartation that occurred from one man to another.
Moses, despite his failings and weaknesses, was still a man after God’s own heart and a friend of God.
It matters who you surround yourself with, and how teachable you are.
Stop looking for perfect leaders, you will never find them, because you will never be one! ☺ But do hang around people who have the Spirit of God in them and are able to impart that to you, because your future depends on it because it’s God you are following in your leader, not just the leader!
Blessings,
Jane Evans