Fail Proof Rock Solid Leadership

UV 1513/10000 Fail-Proof Rock Solid Leadership
And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

Deuteronomy 31 v 8


The Lord goes before those who are faithful. His presence is with us. He moves before us as a consuming fire by night to shield us from the powers of darkness and as a cloud to protect us from the troubles of the day. This uni-verse as well as numerous other verses in scripture reiterate that the Lord will never fail us or forsake us. This one fact is enough to give us an absolute and unshakable sense of security. It will enable us not to fear anything or anyone. It will keep us from disappointment, regret, sadness or discouragement. Moses spoke these words to Joshua as he had experienced the truth of this promise and wanted to pass on the baton of leadership and the anointing to his successor Joshua. Very often in life, we try to overtake the Lord and try to get ahead. But if we slow down and allow Him to go ahead, He will straighten, smoothen and make safe our paths. We will not suffer unnecessary disappointment, discouragement, fear or sorrow. This implies that before we take any decision, we should pray and seek the Lord’s guidance and peace. Even Moses erred in acting impulsively in striking the rock instead of speaking to it to yield water. The Lord is like a rock in terms of His immense and immeasurable strength, His willingness and humility to be the foundation on which we build our lives, His constancy and unchanging nature as against the many changes we undergo. The rock is a metaphor for God our Father, Creator and Redeemer. It amounts to striking Him or hurting Him when we disregard His wise counsel and seek to do as we please. When we speak to the Rock or pray to Him, He will pour out wisdom like water. The talisman of successful life and leadership is the presence or a continual relationship with the Lord.


Our security should not be based on our position, affluence, talents, beauty, glamour or influence but on our relationship with the Rock as Moses went on to describe God the Father who formed us and created us in His image. It is based on the assurance that the Lord will never leave us and that if His presence is with us by day and night, we will never be found wanting in anything. His grace is sufficient to meet with all our need. This is a present reality as well as a future and eternal hope. We will not be overwhelmed by the heavy odds and formidable enemies and foes we face in life. Adversity will test our faith but it will drive us to dig our heels in and come even closer to the Lord who not only provides for our physical, emotional, familial, social and spiritual need but also protects and redeems us from our own wilful faults and errors. Grace is the cement of love, hope and strength that the Lord pours into the many cracks in our faith wall. We may go through ups and downs in our moods, days, fortunes, health, popularity and so on but the Lord looks for a consistency in our relationship and our dependence on His unseen presence. The invisibility or “unseenness” of His presence with us is no doubt challenging but the example as well as the errors of Biblical leaders like Moses encourages and builds our faith.


Everything else and everyone else may forsake or fail us as it happened with Job but the Lord will never fail us. He is Himself our shield and exceeding reward as He will certainly exceed our expectations. Success is certain for those who hope in the Lord and walk close with Him for He is able to do far more than we can ask, think or even imagine. We only need to attribute all credit or glory due to Him and not try to steal it or hide it. Immediately after Moses exhorted Joshua with these words, he broke into a kind of swan song- his last song of praise and glory to God wherein He recounted all the great things the Lord had done in and through the nation of Israel. In this whole song, there is not one line in which he himself takes any credit for leading the nation of Israel out of captivity, for the courage with which he challenged the authority of Pharaoh and asked him,” Let my people go.” If Abraham was the true father of the nation, Moses was virtually the first freedom fighter in history. Yet he sought only to glorify and adore the Lord.

Prateep V Philip