Moses and His leadership abilities have always astounded me. Every time I think I cannot possibly be anymore impressed by something He did, another jumps out at me. I was reading Numbers 12 this morning and was reminded of this scenario: Aaron and Miriam where talking behind Moses' back about him and his leadership, and God calls them out for it. God pulls them and Moses together. God really chastises them for it and leaves them, when He leaves Miriam is covered in leprosy as punishment for her sin. Aaron turns to Moses and pleads on her behalf. Moses says this:
13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “O God, please heal her!” (Nu 12:13., NIV)
I have to be honest here, that probably would not have been my first response. I have no tolerance for someone to do underhanded talking behind backs spreading rumors.
It most likely would have been something like, "no she deserves this, and so do you" or "karma is great", or maybe wouldn't have said anything but just smirked a little.
Now, God didn't heal her right away, she and Aaron had to learn a lesson, but he did seven days later, and it's simply because Moses was humble enough to pray on behalf of his "enemy" at that moment.
The number of times in our lives when someone close to us, be it a family member, friend, or coworker, says something negative about us is unbelievable. You and I cannot have a possible clue about what people are saying about us on a daily basis. The majority of it is probably not good. We may have even walked in right as someone said something and overheard it. It hurts when those close to us, those we trusted, and those we confide in betray that trust. We want vengeance. We want them to suffer for their sins against us.
Why didn't Moses feel that way? Maybe he did, but also maybe he didn't react upon it. He had grace, he had humility, and he had compassion. There was no hesitation in his plea, there was no pause in his plead, and there was no harboring of unforgiveness in his actions.
I don't know if I could do that. I wish I could. I want to. However, deep down inside I just don't know. I would love with everything within me to say "absolutely I would respond the exact same way as Moses", but I know I'm not there. I think I'm getting there, slowly but surely.
One of the greatest signs of a great leader was Moses was more concerned about the one's he was leading than his precious ego getting bruised.
Chris
