The role of a leader.

I'm reminded again of the essence of leadership spoken by the mentor of perhaps the greatest leader in history (and perhaps right there lies one of the greatest lessons a leader can ever learn...that even in greatness there is still much to be learnt!).

'Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform.' (Exodus 18:19-20).

So the role of a leader is 3 fold; (1) To pray. 'You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him'. We're called to intercede. (2) To teach, 'Teach them the decrees and laws'. We're called to feed. & (3) To live as an example. 'show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform'. We're called to lead!

So we Lead, we Feed and we Intercede.

Bless all our leaders Lord, may we hear your voice that comes via their intercession, may we eat of your word as they teach it to us and may we follow them, as they follow Christ.

The one who Blesses

I find it extraordinary that during a time when the people of all the world, including Jacob and his family of 70, were living in debt to the Pharaoh of Egypt because of a severe drought, that it's Jacob who, twice, blesses Pharaoh,

'Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh, Pharaoh asked him, "How old are you?"And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers." Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence' (Genesis 47:7-10).

In one sense, Pharaoh and all the people of Egypt were living in debt to Joseph because he was the one who fore-warned and then worked for 7 years to prepare for the severe and life threatening drought, so you'd think that the king of that land would be appreciative enough to bless that same mans father when he entered his presence!? But more than that, in the eyes of the people of Egypt, and particularly of Pharaoh himself - he was god! The people of Egypt worshiped many gods, but ultimately, Pharaoh was god on earth. So then why is it Jacob blessing Pharaoh and not pharaoh blessing Jacob?

If i picture myself in a parallel circumstance - i simply think of work. I go to work because i need to earn money. I need to earn money in order to provide for my family, otherwise we'll live in drought! So therefore my work is something that i need, that, in a sense I'm subject to, and in debt of. My employment is a blessing. It blesses me. But a change in perspective would say that I work primarily for the God that employs me and the God that I serve, the creator, sustainer and governor of all things, and according to Gen 12, he who blesses me will be blessed. Therefore I present myself there, not to be blessed but to be the one who blesses. It's not about either work or myself being greater than the other, but rather the God that i serve being King of kings and Lord of lords. I worship and serve the creator of the universe, the one who holds all life in his hands - including that of my employer. And so I bless them. Twice.

Blessed pt. 7

A paraphrase by William Barclay on Matthew 5:9, 'O the bliss of those who produce right relationships one with another, for they are doing a Godlike work!' (p127, the new daily study bible, 2001)

Blessed pt. 6

A paraphrase by William Barclay on Matthew 5:8, 'O the bliss of those whose motives are absolutely pure, for they will some day be able to see God!' (p124, the new daily study bible, 2001)

The Valley

Here's an interesting revelation; on which side of the valley of the shadow of death is the green pastures, still waters and the restoration of your soul....?
(see Psalm 23)

Blessed pt. 5

A paraphrase by William Barclay on Matthew 5:7, 'O the bliss of those who get right inside other people, until they can see with their eyes, think with their thoughts, feel with their feelings, for those who do that will find others do the same for them, and will know that that is what God in Jesus has done!' (p120 the new daily study bible, 2001)

Blessed pt. 4

A paraphrase by William Barclay on Matthew 5:6 'O the bliss of those who long for total righteousness as the starving long for food, and those perishing of thirst long for water, for they will be truly satisfied!' (p118, the new daily study bible, 2001)

Blessed pt. 3

'O the bliss of those who are always angry at the right time and never angry at the wrong time, who have every instinct, impulse and passion under control because they themselves are God-controlled, who have the humility to realise their own ignorance and their own weakness, for such people can indeed rule the world!' (Matthew 5:5, paraphrased),
(Barclay, p114, The new Daily Study bible, 2001)

Clay in the potter's hand

I often find myself asking the question, 'Does God have a plan b?'
Perhaps Jeremiah 18:1-6 clears it up;
'This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.'

According to the human eye, the clay is marred and perhaps will always be 'marred' i.e. blemished, flawed, stained, disfigured, spoiled. In the light of an earlier blog on the subject of 'hearing, believing and then seeing accordingly', we've already arrived at the final stage here, meaning that what we're seeing is already settled as something we believe, because...we see according to what we believe. But if we take the time to 'go down to the potters house' (v2) we may just 'see' something different. The revelation is a change in perspective.

The first thing I see is that the jar was marred 'in his hands' (v4). It never left. It may not have been His will that it was marred, but through the disruption and the dis figuration, it never left the sovereignty of his hand.

The second thing I see is that not only was the jar marred, but as the first step toward restoration, it was crushed! 'But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.' (v4 NLT) . Interesting that if you think about the life of the Israelites in the OT, something was crushed consistently in order for the people to be restored in the eyes of God. But then Jesus came and 'was crushed for our iniquities...' (Isaiah 53:5). He was crushed on our behalf, so that in him, we might be perfectly re formed. The perspective changes from being crushed in failure to being crushed in the name or redemption.

The third thing I see is this; 'the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.' (v4) He shaped it 'as seemed best to him.' I don't see the clay attempting to re-shape itself!

And the fourth thing I see is that he used the same clay to form the new pot. He didn't throw out the marred and crushed clay to then reach for fresh unformed clay, but he crushed it and started over with the same piece. 'But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.' (v4)

So does God have a plan b? or just a reformed plan a that's restored to a greater place than it ever reached before?

I'll go with the latter!

Blessed pt. 2

A paraphrase on Matthew 5:4 'O the bliss of those whose hearts are broken for the world's suffering and for their own sin, for out of their sorrow they will find the joy of God.' (Barclay, p110, The new Daily Study bible, 2001)

Blessed

A paraphrase by William Barclay on Matthew 5:3 'O the bliss of those who have realized their own utter helplessness, and who have put their whole trust in God, for thus alone can they render God that perfect obedience which will make them citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven' (p107 the new daily study bible, 2001)