Day 48, or February the 17th Grow Your Own Our
thoughts today are from Numbers chapter 27, verse
18. So the Lord said to Moses, Take Joshua, son
of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership,
and lay your hand on him. First, the big picture
surrounding this verse. After the Israelites
have wandered in the wilderness for forty years,
God tells Moses to count them all again. The
older generation that left Egypt, but wouldn't
trust God when the spies reported back, and so
didn't go into the promised land, are all dead
now. All that is except the two faithful ones,
Joshua and Caleb, and, of course, Moses. This
census counted all the current adult generation
who have not had the opportunity to enter the
land yet. As before, only the men who are twenty
years old and over are counted. In other words,
they were not counting the people but the men
who would make up the army. This method of counting
had not changed by the time Jesus came. Because
if you remember, when they counted the crowd
after a miraculous feeding, Matthew 14 verse
21 tells us, about 5 ,000 men were fed that day,
in addition to all the women and children. Finally,
Joshua, the faithful assistant to Moses, becomes
the new leader. He is the man who will lead them
into the promised land. And now today's action
step. During his lifetime, Moses was preparing
his successor by training a suitable person,
Joshua. Today, we would call this mentoring or
apprenticeship. In Exodus chapter 24 verse 13,
Joshua is described as Moses' assistant, but
Moses doesn't assume that God will confirm him
as leader. He specifically asks God to appoint
someone, and God chooses Joshua. Here we have
two vital aspects of leadership. Firstly, train
them and mentor them yourself wherever this is
possible. This means you are able to know them
and confirm their call much more confidently.
Secondly, never assume God's approval. Be sure
to ask him and then listen and respond to his
leading, just as Moses did.