I teach American Government to Seniors in high school, and we have many conversations about current presidential candidates, party debates, and the ongoing primaries happening right now. This week, I decided to slow down and help students examine what God says about character qualities of a governmental leader. The Bible has quite a few scriptures about leadership.
Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth. Numbers 12:3
In his early years, Moses was an impatient and rough person, which led him to killing an Egyptian to defend an Israelite, but the Bible calls Moses the most humble man on the earth! God picked Moses and processed him for years before he was ready for the great responsibility of leading Israel out of bondage. Moses was eighty years old when he began his leadership role. Do we really think someone in his thirties or forties is processed enough to be ready for the huge task of presidency!?
The context of the above scripture was about Moses’ family criticizing him for marrying an Ethiopian woman. Moses did not defend himself but God did. God chose to defend Moses by rebuking his family for speaking negatively about this man.
picture from thestoryofliberty.net
God is looking for humble leaders to take charge over a nation. A humble person doesn’t get offended easily and neither does he/she rush into judgment by attacking others. Moses patiently and humbly led the grumbling Israelites for forty years in the desert. However, the one time he disobeyed the Lord by hitting the rock rather than speaking to the rock, he was chastised by God for not representing Him properly before the people. Moses lost the chance to take the people to the Promised Land.
I wonder if our governmental leaders ask the question, “Is God pleased with how I represent Him before the people?” Could it be that our leaders have not had much success because their overall objective has been to represent their political party rather than the Lord?
