Profiles In LeadershipIsampula

Whenever I’m traveling, someone inevitably asks where I learned so much about leadership.

Usually, this question comes from a leader from the world of business or government. And the reason I say that’s usually the case is because people who go to church and read their Bible already know my answer.

Everything I know about leadership comes from Scripture.

One of the biggest challenges facing the church today is the need for leadership. We need men and women of Godly character to step forward and take on the problems facing the church.

Men and women like Moses, God’s problem solver.

In Leviticus 15, we read the account of Moses sharing a law concerning ceremonial cleanliness. To modern readers, the long passage might evoke a familiar question whenever someone encounters a stringent rule or regulation:

“But why?”

Near the end of the chapter, God gives the answer to that question: to “keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them” (v. 31).

It might seem odd that God demonstrated such concern over personal cleanliness, but could it be that God knows something that we don’t?

Could it be that God wanted to solve a problem before it started?

If Moses harped on one thing, it was this: Be sure to obey your God (whether you understand why or not).

That simple advice is challenging because obedience doesn’t come naturally in a fallen world. 

Many of our problems arise from ignoring God’s Word, especially when we feel like the instructions don’t make sense.

Moses presented the rules and regulations God gave to His people not only kept them clean—make that holy—in God’s presence, but they also protected God’s children from discomfort, sickness, and untimely death.

There is so much the Israelites didn’t know, and God gave them the law as a way of protecting them. As a leader, Moses understood that God always knows what is best for us, and for our relationship with Him.

Leadership is developed when problems are solved. Through the wisdom of His word, God gives us head start—if we’re willing to be like Moses and trust Him.