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| We need them, but they aren't always the solution. |
As I write this I
am reading the book Canoeing The Mountains by Tod Bolsinger. In the book, he
talks about moving the church into uncharted territory. He mentioned in a small
part of the book how when decline comes to a church, the congregation often
look to leadership as the problem or the solution. I can’t deny that sometimes
leadership is the problem. Leadership guru, John Maxwell, most quoted saying is
“Everything rises and falls on leadership.” This being said it would be quick
to say if there is a problem leadership needs to fix or new leadership is
needed.
However, new
leadership didn’t help the Republic in Star Wars (Ignore this if you aren’t a
Star Wars fan).
The Children of
Israel in this chapter are ready for leadership to fix the problem or be
replaced (being stoned to death makes the replacement permanent). The problem
here is that the children of Israel are looking to the wrong leader. They think
this is Moses’ issue to solve. The person they need to be looking to is not to
Moses but to God. This was the lesson God repeatedly was trying to teach them
through the challenges they faced. The children of Israel needed to call out to
God, as we go forward we see the children of Israel didn’t learn it very well.
Exo 17:1-16
(1) And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.
(2) Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?
(3) And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
(4) And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
(5) And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
(6) Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
(7) And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
(8) Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
(9) And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
(10) So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
(11) And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
(12) But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
(13) And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
(14) And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
(15) And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:
(16) For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Photo by Kiana Bosman on Unsplash
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