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Day 48, or February the 17th Grow Your Own Our

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thoughts today are from Numbers chapter 27, verse

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18. So the Lord said to Moses, Take Joshua, son

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of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership,

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and lay your hand on him. First, the big picture

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surrounding this verse. After the Israelites

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have wandered in the wilderness for forty years,

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God tells Moses to count them all again. The

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older generation that left Egypt, but wouldn't

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trust God when the spies reported back, and so

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didn't go into the promised land, are all dead

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now. All that is except the two faithful ones,

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Joshua and Caleb, and, of course, Moses. This

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census counted all the current adult generation

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who have not had the opportunity to enter the

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land yet. As before, only the men who are twenty

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years old and over are counted. In other words,

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they were not counting the people but the men

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who would make up the army. This method of counting

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had not changed by the time Jesus came. Because

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if you remember, when they counted the crowd

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after a miraculous feeding, Matthew 14 verse

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21 tells us, about 5 ,000 men were fed that day,

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in addition to all the women and children. Finally,

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Joshua, the faithful assistant to Moses, becomes

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the new leader. He is the man who will lead them

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into the promised land. And now today's action

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step. During his lifetime, Moses was preparing

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his successor by training a suitable person,

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Joshua. Today, we would call this mentoring or

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apprenticeship. In Exodus chapter 24 verse 13,

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Joshua is described as Moses' assistant, but

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Moses doesn't assume that God will confirm him

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as leader. He specifically asks God to appoint

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someone, and God chooses Joshua. Here we have

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two vital aspects of leadership. Firstly, train

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them and mentor them yourself wherever this is

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possible. This means you are able to know them

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and confirm their call much more confidently.

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Secondly, never assume God's approval. Be sure

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to ask him and then listen and respond to his

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leading, just as Moses did.