Numbers 17:8-9
On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff.
Truth: God chooses leadership and affirms it
The above passage is the story of God's once and for all leadership decision. On a number of occasions the people of Israel rebelled against Aaron and Moses' leadership. They thought, at several times, that "others" should be able to lead. They wanted to turn an Theocratic society (where God ruled), into a Democratic society (where they selected who ruled). Since this had happened a number of occasions already, God instructed the one person from each tribe should bring a staff (long, walking type stick) to the Tabernacle. Moses would put all them into the Holy of Holies, along with Aaron's staff. Aaron was God's choice. Moses told them whichever staff was "made alive" with green leaves would be God's statement as to who He wanted to lead this group. Aaron's staff didn't just come back with leaves, but with buds, flowers and ripe almonds. God performed a miracle to indicate who He wanted to lead. God places into leadership His choices, not ours. We might think we have something to say about the process (especially in a democratic society), but it is God who places one leader above another. Notice what the writer of this psalm says about the same subject of God's sovereign rule over leadership:
Psalms 75:7
but it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another.
There is NO level of leadership given to chance. God puts people in the positions He gives them and wants them. When we envy others positions we fight against God and sin against God. We may not like the leadership we have and we might voice our thoughts to them. But, that needs to be done with the understanding that God will use that leader the way He wants. We only have to look at the leaders of Babylon, Assyria and Rome to see how God did that in His Word. Don't fight the leadership and envy their jobs and attempt to undermine their roles. God takes that sin very seriously. It is God who chooses leadership and affirms it.
No comments:
Post a Comment