Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
Exodus 33:13-15
Moses is one of the best human pictures of leadership in the Bible. This passage shows us why he was such a great leader.
1. His urgency. Moses had to get ahold of the Lord. He had to have the Lord show him the way. He needs to know both the Lord Himself (“that I may know thee”) and he needs to know what the Lord would have him to do (“shew me now thy way”). Sometimes, we seem to want one or the other- we might want to “know God”, but we don’t want Him telling us what to do. Other times, we want God to tell us which direction to take or what exactly to do, but we have no real desire to know Him. We should have both.
2. His refusal to move anywhere without the Lord. Verse 15 tells us that Moses isn’t going anywhere unless the presence of God is going with him. “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.” That should be our prayer- we shouldn’t want to go anywhere without the Lord. And we shouldn’t want the Lord to send us anywhere outside of His power and guidance. And we definitely shouldn’t want to be leading people anywhere if the Lord is not with us.
3. His power with God. God tells Moses in verse 17 “…I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken”. Any leadership outside of the power of God is going to fall apart. I would love to have that type of power with God myself- to ask something of God and have Him respond with “I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken”. Of course, that power is available to us if we will only use it!
Justified Freely 