Good Leadership.... & Bad

Photo: Grant Stirling

Five days ago a fire sprang up in Pigeon Valley, a heavily forested area about 25 minutes south of us.  It is thought that it was one of those coincidences, the nasty kind, that the fire may have been sparked by heavy farm machinery.  As we have watched and waited I have been so impressed by the leadership of the Tasman region; mayor, civil defence, fire department, volunteers and now the Defence Force.  All have worked selflessly and tirelessly for the good of others.  We have had 22 helicopters and 2 fixed wing aircraft battling the fire and then yesterday another fire quickly took hold close to the city and many more homes.  Quick action and diversion of these precious resources brought this under control.

As I write, there are a number of families in evacuation centres wondering when they will be allowed to return home.  Fortunately many homes have been miraculously saved.  There is no rain on the forecast but we are praying that God will graciously send some unexpected rain on our drought stricken area.

Meantime high in overseas news is the plight of Venezuela. Inflation at a million %.  We can't even begin to imagine it. The people hungry, the hospitals lacking medicines. people desperate. A convoy of aid has arrived at the border and President  Maduro is refusing to allow aid in because he is deluded, and determined to hold onto leadership in the face of opposition. He certainly doesn't look underfed and is no doubt keeping his cronies in the military well looked after so that they support his stance. He certainly would not seem to have the good of the people on his mind.

In my Bible reading I have been following the journey of the children of Israel and Moses' leadership of this grumbling and faithless bunch.  God had given them great and amazing signs of his presence with them, great promises that he would not fail them yet they preferred to look back (through unrealistic eyes) at how good it had been in Egypt.  Moses was a reluctant leader, yet this is what God had prepared him for throughout his life.  Moses thought God was making a mistake because he wasn't great at public speaking, so God said "Okay, I'll send your older brother Aaron with you to be your spokesperson BUT, I will tell YOU what he is to say. Aaron was not given the leadership.  As I read today in Exodus 31 and 32 I saw why.

God had called Moses aside to give him further instructions, his faithful off-sider Joshua went up the mountain with him.  When they were gone many days Aaron's leadership was tested and he failed.  The people came asking for leadership.  "We don't know what's happened to Moses.  You make us gods to lead us on." Aaron was quick to oblige, taking their gold jewellery and fashioning a golden calf for them to worship.  This was the man appointed by God to be priest of the Most High God!  How could he so quickly turn away?  His actions caused God's anger to be stirred, people to die and Aaron to lie when questioned by an angry Moses.  

Moses was a good leader.  Yes, he was angry and he threw down the precious tablets of the law that God had written with his own hand.  But Moses not only confronted the situation but he prayed for God's mercy on the people (Exodus 32:11-14) and God changed his mind about destroying the people entirely.  God had offered to make a whole new nation from Moses' line.  A proud and selfish leader would have jumped at the chance but Moses had a heart for his people.

The Bible encourages us to pray for our leaders and those in authority (1 Timothy 2:2). "Pray for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence."  In this way we can influence the kind of leadership we have.

Prayer: Father God, thank you that we can live in peace and security under leaders that care.  We pray that we will continue to have leaders who will govern and lead in ways that allow us to continue to worship freely and spread the good news of your love.   Amen