The Leadership of Moses, pt5
Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 155
There is a conflict between listening to people and hearing from God. Listening to them and hearing from Him—where does that tension begin and where does it end? We see this is prominent in the life of Moses.
As a leader, you have a spiritual responsibility to hear from God. Primarily, hearing from God is discovering what God is saying in His Word. If you want to increase your hearing, increase your seeing by looking at the Word of God, as that is where you will hear God speak. His Word will become your filter, and you will learn to judge your inward voice as to whether it is you or God speaking.
Great leaders learn to navigate the tension in hearing God and listening to people.
Numbers 9:6-10
But there were some men who were unclean because of the dead person, so that they could not observe Passover on that day; so they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. Those men said to him, “Though we are unclean because of the dead person, why are we restrained from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the sons of Israel?” Moses therefore said to them, “Wait, and I will listen to what the Lord will command concerning you.” Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If any one of you or of your generations becomes unclean because of a dead person, or is on a distant journey, he may, however, observe the Passover to the Lord.
The people came to Moses and needed biblical interpretation. Moses listened to them and then inquired of the Lord. The Lord then clarified it.
It’s OK to listen. You need to listen--not looking for people’s opinion, but being open to their input, and then inquiring of the Lord.
When someone comes to you with an idea, there is no obligation to give an answer right then. It’s a good discipline to consider it and pray about it first. When you take these things to the Lord, not only have you developed the right disciplines in your life, you are modeling to someone on how to hear.
This younger generation, the ones under 30, greatly value being heard. My generation was looking for agreement. This generation isn’t even looking for agreement. They are looking to be heard, not just to talk. They have a great intuitive ability to know when you are listening to them. As I have interacted with this group over the last 10 years, it has really helped my ears to get a lot better at listening. I think I am a much better listener than I’ve ever been. That then enables me to go to the Lord and figure it out. As a result, I’ve gotten really valuable input on things that I would have missed.
Even when the input was about something that was non-negotiable, it still helped me to see how people think. When people talk to you, you want to draw them out. A good listener is a good question asker, not just a responder. Simple questions. Not reacting.
One of my favorite passages is Numbers 32. Moses has a rant. It is the best rant in the Bible. Moses goes ballistic on Reuben and Gad after they ask to take the land on the other side of the Jordan. After Moses’ rant, Reuben and Gad explained the situation further to Moses. Moses backs up, recants, and agrees with them. Even though he lost it, he humbled himself and listened to them.
Sometimes we will judge people’s motives and get it wrong--like Moses did. Sometimes people don’t have good motives, but they have good ideas and we need to not reject the ideas because of the motives.
God speaks through other people. When someone comes and tells me that God told them something, my immediate response is to ask if this is a person that others can tell things to. The credibility of God speaking to people can be reflected if that same person allows others to speak to them. If someone says that God spoke to them, but they aren’t under authority and they can’t listen to anyone, then something is off.
Moses repeatedly models the tension of hearing people and listening to God. Develop your listening. Don’t feel like you have to give an instant answer. Learn to bring the two together. At the end of the day, give God the credit. This is a tension you will always have, so you might as well get good at balancing it out.
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
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