Developing Leaders

Do you ever wonder how prepared Joshua felt to lead Israel into Canaan?  For forty years Israel had wandered in the wilderness with Moses at the helm.  How intimidating it could have been.  But then again, it did not just happen. 

Joshua had been mentored by Moses. Notice Exodus 33:11: “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent” (NASU).  Did you notice that Joshua was at Moses’ side from the early days of the wandering?

You get the sense that this young man was enthralled by Moses’ words and interaction with God.  Joshua witnessed Moses’ faith and faithfulness to God.  He was given responsibility as one of the twelve spies (Numbers 13-14).  Later he was given some of Moses’ authority to lead Israel (Numbers 27:18-23).  Finally, at Moses’ death Joshua was commissioned to lead Israel into Canaan (Dt. 31:23, 34:9).

He had been prepared for this moment by his time at Moses’ side.  He had been prepared by being assigned first smaller tasks then greater and greater tasks.  He had demonstrated his ability to lead in his execution and faithfulness of these assignments.   Joshua had the better part of a lifetime in preparation; let us be diligent in training and preparing others in the work and leadership of the church.

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