I talked about this at Unleash…but wanted to revisit a thought that I didn’t fully develop…
Think about this for a second, you are Joshua, you have just led over a million people across the Jordan on dry ground…momentum is high, people are excited and they are just waiting on you to tell them what’s next.
SO…you beg God for direction…and then you get Joshua 5:2-3…
“At that time the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.’ So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.”
Uh…yep…leadership is tough.
Please notice that God told Joshua to do it.
He didn’t tell him to delegate it.
He didn’t tell him to empower others to do it.
He told Joshua, “You are going to have to make the knives and then you are going to have to personally meet with each man you are leading and…” Well, you get the point.
As leaders we ARE called to empower others to do certain things…and we should always delegate the things that others can do better than us…but…
There are some things that God will call a leader to do that he simply cannot delegate…that means…
- There are meetings that you are going to need to attend.
- There are conversations that you are going to have to have.
- There are decisions that you are going to have to make (and they won’t be easy!)
AND…it doesn’t get easier. Keep in mind that there were over 600,000 fighting men…and God told Joshua to circumcise each one.
BUT…God knew Joshua was willing to do the things that no one else was willing to do…to roll up his sleeves and fully invest himself in a matter…to not be a coward because he feared what others might think about him (seriously…do you think people LOVED this idea?)
Leadership is tough…at the end of the day all of us need to be willing to ask ourselves with the question, “Can God trust me to do the things that no one else wants to do…but are absolutely essential for the success of the church that I am leading?”
More about this next week…