Knowing the difference between who I am leaning on, and who is leaning on me, is the difference between fulfilling my mission or destroying those I’m called to lead.
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Scripture
Deuteronomy 3:27-28
“Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.”
Observation
Moses was having a rough day. The promised land was right there in front of him, close enough to reach out and touch it! …Yet he was not allowed to enter into the promise, because of decisions he had made. It would have been so easy to Moses to let his frustration spill over onto Joshua, and vent his disappointment all over him–yet God told him to ‘encourage and strengthen’ Joshua! Encouragement was probably the last thing on his mind, but it was necessary. Joshua was not there to encourage Moses–he was there to be encouraged, mentored, taught, and led by Moses.
Application
Relational roles and dynamics are so important especially in leading. Knowing the difference between who I am leaning on, and who is leaning on me, is the difference between fulfilling my mission or destroying those I’m called to lead.
My sons bring me great joy, but I can’t lean on them to sustain me and lift me up when I’m having a rough day. The teams that I lead encourage me daily–but it would be unfair and even harmful to expect them to carry every weight that falls on me.
Like Moses, I must be intentional to speak encouragement even when I would prefer not to. Not with a veneer of fake joy, or a facade of confidence, but rather with the genuine confidence of knowing that my strength and joy comes from my heavenly father.
Prayer
God, thank you for your strength which sustains me and your joy which daily fills me. Help me to speak life and encouragement to those around me each day–not with empty platitudes, but with the unshakeable confidence that comes from understanding who I am, and who you are.
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