The requirement for leadership

Scripture

So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.

Numbers 27:18

Observe

Before Moses dies God allows him to see the land that one day his family will call their own; he’s given a glimpse of his people’s future home. As a leader Moses lived to serve God and he led within the boundaries of God’s purposes for him. He didn’t lead to serve his own end, to make a name for himself or to make himself rich.

Imagine then how bittersweet this moment must have been for him. He saw the future he’d been leading people toward but he saw it knowing that it wasn't going to be his future. For Moses it was a reminder that even though we die, God doesn’t. Our flesh is mortal, destined to return to the dust but God goes on and on.

This is the moment where Moses hands back to God the weight of leading only to be reminded that it was never his weight to carry in the first place. God will continue to guide his people even after Moses has gone, and God has already chosen Moses’ successor. 

The man to lead the people into the land will be Joshua and what makes Joshua so special isn’t his acumen, personal integrity or ability. What makes Joshua fit to lead and replace a man as significant and influential as Moses is that the Spirit of God is in him. That’s it, that’s all Moses is told. God’s Spirit has marked him out for service and now God’s Spirit is going to enable him to pick up where Moses is finishing off. 

What follows for Joshua is a public appointment from Moses and several private encouragements from God. He’s told regularly by God to ‘be strong and very courageous.’ Joshua will need the public endorsement to keep the people with him when things get tough and he’ll need courage to not shrink back from the task God’s calling him to. What he needs most of all however is the very thing he’s had since the beginning - the Spirit of God. 

God’s Spirit is in him and that fact (and that fact alone) is what has marked him out and made him God’s man for the job. 

Apply

Often we can look to lots of different things to give us confidence or to give us the assurance we need.

Before we put our heads up above the parapet we quite often want to be as sure as we can that everything’s going to turn out ok; we want public endorsement and private encouragements. We want prophetic words to help us hold a particular course or push a particular door. What qualified Joshua wasn’t any of those things. What qualified Joshua was the plain reality that the Spirit of God was in him. 

That’s what matters for you and me as well.

There’s plenty we’re going to have to learn along the way and there are lots of mistakes we’re going to make before we get there. In all likelihood there’ll be times of public failure and private compromise. There’ll be times when we feel like we’re fit and able and there’ll be times when we feel like we’re dead and buried. But what matters over and above it all is the objective, indisputable reality that the Spirit of God is in us. 

‘So far, so good’ you might say ‘but how do I know if the Spirit of God is in fact in me? and how do I know if he’s in me for this particular purpose?’ Big questions and important questions. There’s a lot to be said but let’s put first things first:

If you are a Christian then you have the Spirit of God in you. What Paul said of himself with regards to the various trials of life is true for all believers: ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ The reason we’re able to thrive in all circumstances has to do more with the presence of God in me than it has to do with anything else. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus lives in Christians making them the dwelling place and temple of God.

A Christian is someone who has:

• repented of their old life of self-oriented living

• made Jesus their Lord and master

• been baptised as an expression of this 

• is trusting Jesus for their future

The Holy Spirit lives in people like this. He equips people for a life of kingdom bringing and disciple making activity. Like Joshua you can be confident that no matter how fearful you may be or how many people may be against you - God is with you and has put his Spirit in you.

Prayer

Thank you Father for sending your Son so that I can have the promise of the Holy Spirit living in me. Thank you Holy Spirit that you have come to equip me and enable me to do what you have gifted me for and called me to. Help me to do all things to honour Jesus and see his kingdom’s values established in my home, work place and among my friends. Amen.