Parsha Ponderings: The Heart of a Leader
By Elizabeth Darby Bass, Sabbath Streams Ministries
Parsha Ki Tisa: Exodus 30:11- 34:35
The next time someone comes and says that they are ready for a leadership position, I am going to bring them to this Parsha and ask them if they are truly ready for the roller coaster that leadership so often is.
Just look at the up and down life Moses had as the leader of the People of God. What a glorious time it must have been to have stood with the people at the foot of Mount Sinai and to have heard their unequivocal response to God. "We will do everything you say."1 How sweet that must have sounded to Moses.
After all, it is a true joy as a leader to see people make that commitment to follow after God. There is nothing that feels as good as those raised hands at the invitation, nothing as rewarding at the end of a message as seeing people stepping out into the aisle to come and proclaim to all --- "I choose to follow after God."
And nothing as disheartening as that call to come and help in a situation where that person has made choices that contradict that proclamation.
Moses was, in a sense, the first-ever pastor. He was chosen by God to take these people out of captivity and lead them into victory. He was chosen to teach them the ways of God and to guide them in following those ways. He was chosen to take a ragtag bunch of slaves and turn them into a powerful army, able to conquer the land that God was bringing them to. Sounds exactly like what we expect from our pastors today.
I can imagine the possible excuses for the lack of trust exhibited by the people before this time. After all, they were sort of just being taken along. I mean really, would you have stayed in Egypt after the God that your parents followed had done all those things? But at the foot of the Mountain, they had all heard the voice of God2. They had all made the choice for themselves. There was no going back.
So what happened?
Here we come to Moses on the mountain. The people are waiting at the base. They have seen the smoke cloud, the thunder and lightning, they have heard the voice like a trumpet. They have experienced the majestic power of the Almighty.
And yet, when they see that Moses has been gone a long time, they complain to Aaron, the second in command. The same Aaron that God has chosen to be the High Priest of the people. The people complain, and Aaron eventually listens. Following their suggestion to make a new god for them, he takes their gold jewelry and fashions a statue, a calf.
We all remember the story. We have seen it, the figure of Moses coming down off the mountain, seeing the wild party in the camp and in a wild rage he throws the stones down on the ground, breaking the tablets into many pieces.
But this is not the whole story.
While Moses was yet with God, the Lord spoke to him and told him what the people were doing. In Ex. 32 verses 7-14 The Lord tells Moses exactly what was going on in the camp, and He suggests to Moses, that if he will simply step aside, move out of the way, this bunch of complaining, disobedient people could be done away with, and Moses could become the father of a whole new nation.
At times I would think this could have been a real temptation – after all, stiff-necked people are real pain in the neck. I can sympathize. Many pastors today will admit that the church is full of complaining, disobedient people, not unlike the Israelites in the wilderness. I even heard a minister say recently that it would be far easier to start a new church with new believers than to deal with the people in the established church to which he had been called. And that is exactly what God is offering to Moses. God essentially says, "Let me wipe this bunch out and we will start over, you and I."
But Moses is not persuaded. Instead of agreeing, he argues with God. Moses starts by placing ownership of the people back in God's hands, then goes on reminding Him of the work He has done, His reputation and His promises. What a great pattern for prayer.
But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'" And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. (Ex. 32: 11-14)
Sometimes when I pray for people I forget that they are HIS people. I forget that He has been the one that brought them this far and it is ultimately HIS job to take them farther. It would have been easy for Moses to have fallen into this trap. After all, God even said so --- "your people, whom you brought up out of the land"3.
Perhaps this is a key to Moses' humility. It shows us his heart. Moses did not fall for the pride of ownership. These people are not his people, they are God's. His responsibility is to lead and guide, and bring them to God. The rest is between them and God. And yet, he is willing to stand up for them as a group. He is willing to intercede for them, to argue with God on their behalf. This is the heart of a true leader.
Does this then stop justice and judgment from coming on the people? No. But it does stop the wrath from spilling over to the innocent. He may have stopped the all-out destruction of the whole group, but when Moses comes down he still takes decisive action that calls the guilty to account.
The tablets are thrown down, not just as an act of anger. The breaking of the tablets is also a visual demonstration of the breaking of covenant that has taken place, a covenant written with God's own hand. While the destruction of the people has been averted, the covenant that was made for this fellowship is now in jeopardy and it affects everyone.
Having demonstrated what is at stake, he destroys the idol, burns it and grinds it until it is powder, and mixes it into the water that the people drink. There are consequences to sin in the assembly. Even the innocent can taste it. We must not ever forget that. The whole fellowship is going to drink of the sin, even if they did not participate themselves.
Once the idol is gone, Moses confronts Aaron. I have often wondered why Aaron seemed to escape judgment. In my Christian background and training, no real explanation was ever given. But the Rabbis give us several possible reasons. From what is interpreted as an attempt to delay till Moses returned, to the influence of the mixed multitude and the magicians effecting the calf's creation,4 to the concept that it was his heart that God looked at, and his desire to unify the people.5 What we see directly is that Aaron places the blame on the people, and Moses accepts it. Sometimes the leadership is the key to a problem, but sometimes we must look past the leadership and see that people are who they are, naturally impatient and impulsive, with a tendency to sin. There is a time to cover sin and a time to step aside and let us see ourselves for who we are.
The Word states that Moses saw the people as exposed before all6.
This people, presented as the bride of Jehovah just forty days before, are now standing naked and disgraced before the world. Already they have fallen into adultery. And yet – guilty as they are, they are still His chosen ones and there is still a place of forgiveness and restoration for them. Moses seeks God for that restoration. Once more Moses stands between God and the people asking for forgiveness and offering himself to be cursed on their behalf7 if necessary. But he didn't stop there. He went on to declare a total dependence on the presence of God for leading the people. Then, from this place of intercession, Moses makes the request of God to be allowed to see His glory.
This is also a good pattern for leaders. The declaration of dependence on God's presence and the pursuit for more revelation changes everything. Prior to this, the holiness of God had been revealed, but God had yet to declare the fullness of His name, the fullness of grace. That revelation of YHVH as the compassionate one, the merciful and gracious one, the forgiver of sins, did not come until Moses pushed past the guilt of the people, declared their continued dependence on God by insisting that they would go no further unless God was with them and pleading with God for a vision on His Glory.
Moses knew that for the people to be changed, for the people to be able to enter the Promised Land, they needed God's Glory, His fullness, and His presence. His push for a full revelation of God resulted in a change. It resulted in the revelation of God's attributes of grace, mercy and forgiveness – It resulted in Moses knowing a more clear meaning of the Name of God, and in Moses being able to represent that to the people. Oh that we would be willing to do the same, that we would be willing to fight for the forgiveness of those around us. If only we would be willing to develop this heart in our leadership, to pursue a deeper revelation of God – more of God, not just for ourselves, but for those around us as well. As Moses pursued God, his face became radiant with the presence of the God. Moses was changed. Oh that we too would be changed.
More love, more power, more of You in my life
More love, more power, more of You in my life
And I will worship You with all of my heart
And I will worship You with all of my mind
And I will worship You with all of my strength
For You are my Lord8
Father, forgive us for not pushing past our own frustrations with those around us. Forgive us for jumping to judgment instead of intercession. Forgive us for missing the opportunity to be changed in your presence by not continuing to pursue a revelation of your mercy for ourselves and for those we represent. Forgive us for not developing a heart of leadership that is willing to pursue Your presence, and Your glory. Release in us the desire to see you, so that we may be changed in your presence and represent You more clearly among your people and to our fallen world.
1. Exodus 19:8 & 24:3
2. Exodus 19:19
3. Exodus 32:7
4. http://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading.asp?AID=15567&p=2&showrashi=true
5. http://www.aish.com/tp/i/sms/85191327.html
6. Ex. 32:25
7. Ex. 32:32
8.
More Love More Power by Jude Del Herro ©1987 Mercy/Vinyard Publishing CCLI# 3094914