Joseph
of the Old Testament was a great leader, but his rise to authority was tedious
and slow. In Genesis 37 we can read the
account of Joseph as a youth who had big dreams and jealous siblings. One thing leads to another and Joseph finds
himself sold by his family, taken to a foreign land, presumed as dead, and
begins a life of ups and downs until he finds himself in a prison for a crime
he has never committed. Through it all, Joseph was a patient person with a
great attitude; trusting in the Lord’s goodness even though life to this point
had become entirely unfair. In a twist
of circumstances Pharaoh has a troubling dream and it is remembered that Joseph
has the God-given ability to interpret dreams.
After giving the precise interpretation of the dream, Joseph also offers
Pharaoh some wise strategy advice. Pharaoh
recognizes that the person who came up with the discerning plan to get his
people through an extended drought would be the logical person to have the
authority to carry out the plan. So,
Pharaoh puts Joseph into official leadership.
Joseph’s leadership skills were honed in the unlikely environment of
prison – but those skills were those of a servant leader who patiently waited
for God to reveal His plan for Joseph’s life.
The
world’s way of becoming a leader and God’s way are opposite of each other. The world’s way is often about exalting
oneself, obtaining power and manipulating people and situations to get one’s
own way. This can be as true in a
relationship as it is in a large corporation.
God’s way of creating a leader involves patience and gentleness. Psalm 18:28-29 says, “For You light my
lamp; The Lord my God illumines my
darkness. For by You I can run upon a
troop; and by my God I can leap over a
wall.” And in verses 34-35 we read, “He
trains my hands for battle, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your
salvation, and Your right hand upholds me;
and Your gentleness makes me great.”
God values gentleness. It doesn’t
make us any less strong. These words
from the Psalms are hardly the words of weakness - they are words of
strength. Gentleness and patience are
fruits of the Spirit and are marks of a great leader.
Patience
and Gentleness will cause us to take a very different action that our normal
human nature. We may feel like we are at
the end of our emotional rope with a rambunctious child, or rebellious
adolescent. Our natural self wants to
lash back – to place a little fear over those we want to control. It takes the Spirit of God working on our
heart to respond to give a gentle answer to a snotty question. It takes a godly patience to take the long
view on someone’s immature behavior. In relating
to adults it takes gentleness to respond to someone who makes accusations
without having all of the facts. It
takes patience to work “as unto the Lord” day after day and lead humbly, and
yet be treated with disrespect. Working
and relating to people we either lead or influence will put pressures on us to
respond in ways that tempt us to lose patience and speak with caustic words
instead of gentle ones. To be good
leaders, whether it is with our children, a ministry to women, or a large
organization, we find that we have to abandon our dependence on our own natural
responses and become utterly dependant upon God to give us the patience and
gentleness we need.
Like the
psalmist, we learn it’s not our own abilities that make us good, It’s God’s
gentleness. Like Joseph we learn that we
don’t find our purpose in life by pushing our way to the top – we trust in God
with patience; for patience and gentleness
are marks of a great leader.
