Aaron, Moses’ brother, lived the leadership experience of most leaders. Like Aaron, most leaders will not be the final authority; most will lead from within the organizational chart not the top. Most won’t have a perfect track record of performance, but take courage in that position because God used Aaron to accomplish critical leadership functions for His kingdom and Aaron’s leadership left a mark that can still be seen today. Read Exodus 4:10-17; Exodus 32:1-6 & 19-29; Numbers 12:1-3; Leviticus 8:1-9.

Aaron was not God’s choice to lead the Hebrew nation from captivity in Egypt. He was selected by God to assist Moses. Aaron did not always understand the vision and he did not always perform in support of Moses but Aaron had key roles to play as God accomplished His vision for the Hebrew people. Most leaders, like Aaron, will serve in the middle of an organization and must learn to have maximum influence without having the final authority in either the vision or the process.

In a number of instances Moses’ actions showed he was a humble man and a servant leader. Think for a moment about his father-in-law’s advice to put structure and organization to the process of settling the people’s differences. Moses could have decided that he was God’s chosen leader, he was the leader of 3 million, he was the one God used to part the sea, God spoke directly to him and he did not need advice. He could have rationalized that the people and his core team would think him weak if he took advice. He could have, if he was ruled by arrogance and pride, but a leader ruled by humility can learn from the team around him. He not only took Jethro’s advice but he demonstrated a real change in his leadership utilizing the advice several times during the 40 wilderness years. The greatest validation of Moses’ humility came directly from God.  Read Numbers 12:1-8.

The quality of humility flows out of a proper assessment of ourselves before God. Moses was a powerful leader, but he was also a humble leader because he saw himself in the light of God and sought God’s honor and reputation, not his own. When leaders come to grips with their desperate need for the grace and mercy of God, they develop a teachable spirit, they seek wise counsel and they are willing to be under authority.

A leader must have faith in their team and be prepared to lead with equal effectiveness regardless of current circumstances. Read Numbers 11-14.

Moses faced open rebellion from the people concerning the kinds of food God was providing. He had his senior leadership lose confidence in him after a marriage to a non-Hebrew. He had 10 of 12 tribal leaders refuse to follow the established course and timeline after they saw the potential problems in the land God had promised them. He faced a total collapse of confidence by all the people when the 10 tribal leaders brought their report out of the leadership team and took it public. Yet when God was ready to strike down the people, Moses begged God to give the people another chance.

Effective leadership involves planning. Planning is generally cherished by the more naturally introverted leaders who find their energy from times of solitude and generally not-so-cherished by the naturally extroverted leaders who find their energy with people. But for leaders to become all that God intended them to be, no matter their personality, they will have to find a method of planning that allows them to live within their personality and still create carefully thought out short and long-term plans. Read Numbers 10.

Estimates say there were approximately 3 million Hebrews that left Egypt under Moses’ leadership. We know that God determined the times and directions of the Israelites’ movement. They had no way of knowing in advance whether they would camp in a particular location for a few days or for a year. Each time they set up camp, they had to do so as if they might be there for a lengthy duration, but they also had to be flexible enough to break camp at any time. If there was not a carefully thought out plan in place to add order to pack up, march out and set up all 3 million Hebrews would have lost motivation for being part of this team. To put some personal understanding to the scope of this task, just think for a moment what it takes to get your family fed, dressed and into the car to get to church on time.