A LEADER LED

Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. (Numbers 9:17)

Moses was the leader of Israel, but he was a leader led.  He had tried his own ingenuity and ability once before--killing an Egyptian with his own hands--and that had not gone well. The result of that effort was forty years on the backside of a desert, pastoring his father-in-law's flock, until he died to self-will and self-confidence.  Moses had learned his lessons in the school of hard knocks, where the school colors are black and blue.  You are smart to learn from your mistakes, but you are smarter to learn from the mistakes of others.  So, we have within the pages of Scripture these wonderful examples to encourage us, and monumental failures to warn us.

What do we learn here?

The lesson is that if we want to be men of God, leading the people of God, it demands that we be leaders who are led.  God manifested His presence in the cloud that filled the tabernacle and rose above it--a shield from the sun by day, and a fire to light and warm the night.  Besides that, the cloud was their heavenly GPS.  When the cloud moved, they moved.  When the cloud stopped, there they camped.  The Israelis learned patience--to wait on the Lord--until God directed them to go as they stayed in place.

The church has called the pastor to lead them.  That is what shepherds do.  The critical matter is to make sure that we have not dreamed up a direction and are attempting to fulfill that vision according to human wisdom and in the energy of the flesh.  We must be a leader led by the Lord.  We have no cloud above us, but we have the Spirit within us.  He will lead us if we fill our minds with the Word He has inspired, humbly ask God to guide us, take the next step of faith and obedience, consult with godly counselors, and see how circumstances are either aligning or calling for adjustment to the plan.  Always bear in mind that something may be God's will, but is not yet God's time. Doing the wrong thing is never right.  Doing the right thing, the wrong way, is never right.  Doing the right thing, the right way, for the wrong reason, is still not right.  Doing the right thing, the right way, for the right reason, but at the wrong time, is still wrong!  It is when we do the right thing, the right way, for the right reason, and at the right time that it is right!

That is the lesson of the cloud.  The cloud charted the course.  May we, like Moses, be leaders who are led.