Presence or Position: Procrastinating Leader. Moses – Part 7

We probably never thought, delayed response equals procrastination. Oh well, we might say, ‘I am waiting for additional informational, or let me go and pray about it.’ I am actually smiling. The Bible says, “And the word of the Lord runs swiftly,” likewise, we are to be swift to hear and do whatever it is the word of the Lord is saying to us at every stage of our fellowship and relationship with Him. As I alluded to in my previous posts, marked Part 6, we would thoroughly investigate Biblical texts and examples of people who mirrored different Biblical leadership styles, with the hope, we would identify where we are in our leadership styles, and how we can lean on the Lord to help us transform into the true leaders we have been called to be. One thing would be clear at the end of each write-up; you will locate yourself somewhere in-between the 4 types of leadership styles in the the Bible based on research.

PROCRASTINATING LEADER: “The habit of always putting off an experience until you can afford it, or until the time is right, or until you know how to do it is one of the greatest burglars of joy. Be deliberate, but once you’ve made up your mind–jump in.” Charles R. Swindoll. In other words, procrastination is a learned habit which can be unlearned. I believe, the Bible counsels us to act swiftly to God’s word and counsel, therefore, when we delay in acting or responding to God; it is called procrastination. Well you might be reading this and saying, ‘I am not a procrastinating person,’ please read along with me. 2 key Biblical characters we would investigate is MOSES & DAVID, including supporting texts to enhance our understanding.

MOSES: God made a promise of deliverance in His word towards the children of Israel saying, for 400 years, they would be in bondage, but that He was going to deliver them at the exact date. Read Genesis 15:13 (NLT). Like you and I know, “God is not a man, that He should lie; He doesn’t change His mind like humans do. Has He ever promised, without doing what He said? Read Numbers 23:19 (TLB). Exodus 3:7-13 says, and the Lord said, “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Ammorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites… Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

Scripture tells us, Moses spent a whole chapter in Exodus 4, arguing with God, and giving reasons why he thought he was not suitable to be Israel’s deliverer. Then Moses answered, ¹“Look, they won’t believe me and they won’t listen to me. Instead, they’ll say, ‘The Lord didn’t appear to you.'” Then Moses told the Lord, ¹⁰ “…Please, Lord, I am not eloquent. I never was in the past, nor am I now since you spoke to Your servant. In fact, I talk too slowly, and I have a speech impediment.” Moses said, ¹³“…Please Lord, send somebody else.” ¹⁴“Then the Lord was angry with Moses…” God being angry here, was a point of research for me. And meditating on the verse, I believe ‘God, had primed, trained and prepared Moses for the task of bringing the children out of Egypt, and there was no one else for Him to prepare for the task,’ You might sigh and say, but this is God, He can do anything He wants, He is sovereign. True ,He is sovereign, but remember, God had a word to keep, hence Moses had no other choice, but to respond, even if he had to be dragged, kicking and screaming.’ Beloved, we can see from the verse of scriptures, Moses was a procrastinating leader. He found every reason to give God, trying to escape the call of God. Does this sound familiar? Yes it does. At some point in our walk with God, and in general, we have put off so many things we should have done expediently… Lord Jesus, help us. 

Let me ask this question of us dearly beloved, is there anything you and I are dragging our feet on? Is there something burning in our hearts, and still deliberating, even after hearing clear counsel from God to move forward? Are we intelligently stacking up reasons upon reason to convince ourselves why we are not qualified to do this or that?  Like God said to Moses, I believe the same word is for you and I; to move forward with God’s counsel and plan for our lives, families, businesses and ministry. Eventually, Moses moved from being a procrastinating leader to becoming a restorer leader, because he embraced God’s help, and Moses’s story is evident for all of us to see; he became one the greatest leaders of his time. So being a procrastinating leader is a phase we all get into, but as we begin to allow the word of God envelope our being; the true character of leadership I believe would be expressed.

We would discuss king David next, and why I think he was a procrastinating leader, using scriptural texts as our foundation, but it wont end there, because David becomes a transformed man, hence God said, “David, a man after My own heart.”

We write You read Be encouraged.