Today’s Scripture Reading (November
9, 2012): Judges 12
Why do we
seem to find it so hard to rejoice and cheer each other on? Maybe it is just
the company that I keep, but sometimes it seems that we struggle with the good
news of others, while he have to try hard not to rejoice in their failures. And
it is one of the reasons why good leaders fail. If a leader is afraid that
someone on the team will do better than the leader will, then they only have two
choices open to him. Either the leader will choose people for the team that do not
appear to have the capability to do a better job, or the leader will
subconsciously sabotage the efforts of the one that is following or micromanage
them so that their talents cannot shine. But either way, the leader is the one
that really loses.
Ephraim was
given a position of leadership over his older brother by his grandfather - Jacob.
It was a moment that the descendants of Ephraim refused to forget. Jacob had
given them leadership and Joshua, the one who led the nation into the Promised
Land, was their brother. The result was that Ephraim felt that they were, in
fact, the real leaders of the nation. And from the very beginning, Ephraim
believed that they deserved the benefits of leadership. Not only did they
demand the best piece of land as their inheritance, but they demanded that they
be consulted on every decision that the young nation would make.
The
Ammonites had become a problem for the people that lived close to the borders
of the fledgling nation. Like the Midianites, they seemed to like the idea of
border raids on the Israelite settlements. And so the people cried out. At
first, their cries were directed at their brothers (including the descendents
of Ephraim), but no one came to their help. But the problem was not their
silence. The silence simply indicated that there just was not an easy solution
to the problem. So the cries of the people turned to God. And God sent a judge
– and avenger – to solve the problem. The problem for Ephraim was because the
answer to the problem came from someone outside of their tribe. As leaders of
the nation they were convinced that any answer should come from them.
It was the
same problem that the Pharisees had during the time of Christ. God’s answer
should have come from them, but he chose a different path. Whenever, as
leaders, we think that the answer has to come from us, we are making the same
mistake as Ephraim and the Pharisees – and we are limiting the power of our own
leadership. As leaders, Ephraim should have rejoiced that God had found an
answer – even if that answer did not come from their number. And s should we. If
we want to be used by God, sometimes we have to realize that our purpose is to
be the cheerleaders of the community. Sometimes that is the most important
thing we can be.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Judges
13
No comments:
Post a Comment