Moses’ Leadership: 10 Must-Read Tips Every Leader Should Know

Everyone knows Moses, right? The iconic guy whom God used to part the Red Sea? The one who’s seen God’s hand wrote the ten commandments!

You probably might have seen the cartoon movie, “Prince of Egypt’? Yes, that’s exactly who he is!

How did he do it? Was he a sturdy man with lots of muscles to flex in the first place?

Well, one thing I know was he was a man of God, divinely appointed to lead the people of Israel.

Want to know more about him? Have a quick read and know ten-must read tips every leader should know based on Moses’ leadership!

1. Admit that You are Not Perfect

Moses wasn’t a perfect guy, just like any of us. He had his fair share of mistakes which led him to his wilderness experience. He may have had the best education in the schools of Egypt. However, he needed to be re-educated in God’s ways as a humble shepherd in the deserts of Midian.

After 40 years, when God called Moses, he was hesitant. Why? Because Moses isn’t a public speaking guy! The fact is, he even had a speech defect!

The Bible records that Moses is not eloquent. Something he struggled even in the past up to when the Lord called him. He is “slow of speech and tongue” (Exodus 4: 10). What’s reassuring is that even so, God still wanted to use him despite his imperfections! 

Are you a leader? You may not be slow to speak. But just like Moses,  we have our weaknesses. It doesn’t matter. What matters is you humbly submit yourself before God, admit that you don’t know it all, and God will be your aid.

2. Have an Accountability Partner

See, Moses identified that he has a problem. And that is something unsolvable in his feeble and limited human perspective! But for God, there are a gazillion solutions for a single problem!

When Moses was trying to refuse the job, God answered, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore  go,  and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

In the end, God commissioned his brother Aaron to be with him. Having an accountability partner in leadership is indeed biblical. Remember, Solomon said, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil” (Ecclesiastes 4:9). 

In leadership, God wants us to overcome difficulties with others! That’s what life is all about, right? Extending help or asking for help from others isn’t a bad deal!

3. No Matter How Crazy the Idea Is, Go Part the Red Sea!

Leading a group of ten people isn’t a joke. But what about a group of thousands of people? The crazy part is, you’ll have to lead them in a desert where behind you was your enemy’s army while in front of you is the vast sea!

What’s admirable with Moses is despite the insurmountable challenges behind and in front of them. He knew his God. 

Thus he said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today…The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent (Exodus 14:13).”

Do you have a lot of problems and you don’t know which way to go? There’s no need to fear! God is with us. He will fight for us, and we only need to be silent.

So, no matter how crazy the idea is, just go part that Red Sea!

4. Keep God’s Laws

Blessings come to those who keep God’s laws. That’s what the Lord kept on reiterating throughout the centuries. 

Moses happened to be instrumental in giving the law to the Israelites. He witnessed how God wrote His commandments in the tablets of stones. The Lord loved Moses and Moses loved Him. 

Through Moses, the Lord penned the first five books in the Bible. Some also claim that he wrote the book of Job. In Deuteronomy 11:13, 14, God gave the Israelites a promise.

 “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.”

See more God’s blessing for obedience in Deuteronomy 28!

5.  Don’t Hit the Rock with a Rod!

The Bible tells us that because Moses hit the rock, he wasn’t able to reach the Promised Land. Seriously?

Have you ever thought why it was a big deal when there was another instance where Moses struck a rock too, and water came out gushing from it!

The act of striking the rock was a clear disobedience from the command to speak to it (Numbers 20: 8). However, God gives us a more profound reason why he punished both Aaron and Moses not to reach the Promised Land.

Verse 12 states, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

Aaron and Moses failed to represent God. As a result of their anger toward the people, they dishonored Him by taking matters into their own hands by manipulating God’s intervention to prove their worth as leaders?

Are there people mocking you and provoking you to sin? The Bible says, Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city (Proverbs 16:32).”

6. Intercede For Your Subordinates

Moses interceded many times for the people of Israelites! 

Can you think of somebody else who interceded for others? 

Yes, Jesus!

A leader must be so strong in the Lord to intercede for his subordinates. There were a lot of instances when Moses interceded between God and his people. For example, when the Lord was about to strike the Israelites for building a golden calf, Moses pleaded on behalf of the people (Exodus 32: 11-14). 

Over and over, every time the people would murmur and rebel, Moses will intercede on behalf of them. 

Do you have problematic subordinates? Do you feel like they are constantly a pain in the head?  Those Israelites were like that too!

But instead of condemning them, Moses interceded for them!

7. Delegate.

There is beauty in delegating tasks to people.

At the beginning of Moses’ leadership, he used to judge people from morning ’till evening to settle their disputes. Jethro saw this and seize the opportunity to give his son-in-law advice.

He advised Moses to seek for “able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe and place such men over the peoples as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens (Exodus 18: 22).”

So, the little matters they judge amongst themselves and every great matter they bring to him ( Exodus 18: 22).

Delegating tasks to people means empowering them! It means allowing them also to trust God and ask for His wisdom as they fulfill their job. Isn’t that wonderful?

8. Trust that the Lord Will Deliver.

Time after time, the Lord delivered His people. Forty years in the desert wasn’t a joke after all!

These were the instances when God delivered the Israelites during Moses’ time:

1. The Ten Plagues (Exodus 7-14: 32)
2. Pharaoh Setting them Free (Exodus 14: 33-50)
3. Crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14)
4. God Gave Them the Waters of Marah, Meribah, and 
5. The Providence of Bread from Heaven (Exodus 16)
6. The Lord’s Wrath After They Built a Golden Calf (Exodus 32)
7. Aaron and Miriam’s Opposition (Numbers 12: 1-14)
8. The People’s Grumbling After the Report of the Spies (Numbers 14:1-36)
9. The Snakes in the Wilderness ( Numbers 21: 4-9)
10. Balaam’s Curse (Numbers 22-24)
11. Vengeance on Midian (Numbers 31)
12. The Defeat of King Sihon (Numbers 21: 21-30; Deuteronomy 2: 26-37)
13. The Defeat of King Og (Numbers 21: 31-35; Deuteronomy 3)
    
14. Look only on the Positive.

The Lord promised to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. That is the short-term goal of the leadership of Moses. 

However, the long-term goal is to transform the characters of the children of God. And win them so that they could have a saving relationship with Him.

Although Moses didn’t get to reach the Promised Land, the Lord allowed him to see it. At the end of his life, he asked Moses to “went up Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho (Deuteronomy 34: 1)

There, the Lord showed him the land that was promised to his ancestors. Oh, what a beautiful sight that could’ve been!

The Bible records that he died at the age of 120, but his eye wasn’t undimmed, and his vigor unabated (Deuteronomy 34:7). This reminds us that no matter how shaky leadership could be, positively looking at our goal will be a good choice of perspective!

10. Prepare a Successor.

A good leader must replicate himself to others. All along, he had been preparing somebody to take his place– Joshua.

Joshua, the son of Nun, had been the assistant of Moses since his youth (Numbers 11:28).  And when it was about time of Moses’ death, the Lord called Joshua and commissioned him in front of the Israelites (Deutoronomy 31:14).

This means that the Lord values succession and discipleship. When Jesus was also here on earth, he also disciplined a few men to learn his ways and replicate his character. 

He walked with them and taught them personally. So, when it was about time for Him to leave earth, He also commissioned them to lead the other followers. 

This parallelism is so remarkable!

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