In sixth century BC, Babylon was the preeminent power in the world, and this passage shows how they conquered Israel and deported the professional classes, including artisans, scholars, and government and military officers, in order to subjugate them through assimilation. This passage shows how Daniel and his three friends confronted the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. What happened in that confrontation?
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One night after I had gone to bed early, the phone rang, and when my son picked up he heard a woman weeping on the other end. She was crying so hard she could not find her voice, but fortunately my son gently said the right thing.
“You want to talk to my mom, don’t you?”
She muttered a feeble, “Yes.”
And, then my son woke me up to talk and pray with my sweet friend.
Who do you call in the middle of the night when you need prayer? Do you have someone you can call who is willing to lose sleep and comfort you, someone who feels like a rock of stability in the middle of your challenging circumstances?
That night I was the one she called, but many times I reach out in tears seeking a solid rock friend to pray and encourage me, because sorrow is unexplainably common.
One of the most precious pictures of Jesus foreshadowed in the Old Testament is the Rock. Paul believed Israel’s history pointed toward Christ. Look at 2 Cor. 10:1-4.
I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them and the Rock was Christ.
In Matthew 21:42-44 Jesus knew he was the Rock when he quotes Psalm 118:22.
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Jesus is the stone the builders rejected. Through Jesus’ one-time sacrifice, God was going to reconcile the world to himself.
In our next Rock passages God takes a contentious struggle between Moses and the Israelites to reveal the power of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Look at Exodus 17:2-7.
Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried to the Lord? “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb and you shall strike the rock and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Dehydration is a serious problem for people who try hiking in the desert. If you have never felt the pounding headaches, the vertigo or muscle cramps of dehydration, you might not fully understand what these people experienced and why they felt justified in their grumbling. Mercifully, God did understand and even though they complained, God provided water when Moses struck the rock.
Unfortunately, this was not going to be the last time they ran out of water on their desert trek. In Numbers 20:2-12 we have our second story of dehydration.
Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates and there is no water to drink. Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him.
Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank and their livestock. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
God wanted the Rock portrait to illustrate the wonder-working power of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice. Compare these two Old Testament stories with Jesus’ sacrifice. In the Exodus passage while Moses was alone with the elders, he was told to strike the rock and water would gush forth. He was not to strike the rock in front of the entire congregation. Because the Sanhedrin, the Jewish elders, feared Jesus’ popularity, they arrested him in the middle of the night. In a secret trial, away from the eyes of the congregation they beat him and condemned Jesus to die.
In the Numbers passage Moses was supposed to speak to the Rock in front of the entire congregation and water would flow. By speaking instead of striking the Rock this second event in Israel’s history was to prophetically point to the power of Jesus’ one-time sacrifice. Now, in prayer we need only to speak to the Rock of our salvation. God answers us based on Jesus’ once-for-all crucifixion.
Moses was forbidden from entering the Promised Land when he willfully destroyed the picture of grace God wanted embedded in the Exodus. Without understanding that God wanted to foreshadow Christ’s one-time sacrifice in Israel’s history, these two desert stories are difficult to interpret. Blinded by leadership fatigue Moses felt he had a right to preempt God’s intentions. With this Rock metaphor, we learn the value God places on his eternal plan of salvation.
Hebrews 9:24-26, 28 also reminds us that Jesus’ sacrifice was a one-time sacrifice.
For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of
God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
… so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Imagine the privilege God was bestowing on Moses. God gave Moses the high calling of foreshadowing the supremacy of Jesus’ sacrifice before the entire congregation. Unfortunately, Moses was viewing the Israelites as rebels instead of God’s children. Close to the Promised Land, after years of faithfulness, Moses stubbornly sinned.
What is God asking of you that seems like a trial instead of an opportunity?
Sometimes leadership is exhausting. As a pastor’s daughter and pastor’s wife, leadership fatigue is a common temptation.
There is one place of leadership I have struggled to navigate. Often times, drained and weary, I have felt like I simply cannot hear one more sad story. This attitude while understandable is unsafe in a leader. This was Moses’ sin. When I am angry, frustrated with my calling, and not surrendering to God’s agenda, like Moses I am putting in jeopardy my move to the Promised Land.
Church members, friends, and family all come clothed in suffering. Sorrow is unexplainably common. So, what could I do with my chronic lack of mercy?
I could pray the minute someone told me of a need. I’ve learned the sooner I pray the easier it is for me to keep listening. Sometimes I text a prayer, or immediately ask the person if we can pray. When I surrender those who suffer to God, he hears. I’ve finally learned listening to sad stories is an opportunity to see God move, not a trial to be delivered from.
What are you being blinded by? What trial is eclipsing the wonder-working power of the cross in your life?
Jesus’ sacrifice happened once. This is the solid rock on which we stand in prayer. We don’t come in our own righteousness and try to negotiate with the Almighty. When God commanded Moses to speak to the rock it was to show how we come to God in prayer, through the power of Jesus’ blood sacrifice. Our prayers find merit because we belong to Jesus and his merit has been imparted to us.
All Scripture is taken from the English Standard Version.
Have you ever considered the significance of the appearing of Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration and what it might mean for your life? It may be obvious to some that Moses represented the giving of the Law (Torah) and Elijah represented the giving of prophets to proclaim God’s word. But actually, the meaning of their appearances goes quite a bit deeper than that.
Three times in scripture God speaks from a mountain. The first time was from Mount Sinai when God gave the Ten Commandments.
“Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up…And God spoke all these words, saying…” (Exodus 19:18-20 and 20:1).
Between the appearance on the mountain and God speaking as if through thunder, the people of God were terrified and asked that God not speak to them anymore. “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die” (Exodus 20:19).
This is an interesting contrast to the second time that God spoke on a mountain. That mountain was Horeb (same mountain, different name), and Elijah the prophet waited for the Lord to speak to him while he was in a cave. Notice what scripture says about this.
“And [God] said, ‘Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.’ And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave” (I Kings 19:11-13).
Did you notice the difference? For Moses there was thunder and an earthquake and smoke, enough to terrify the people. Yet when he spoke to Elijah, there were these things, but God did not speak through them, but rather, through a low whisper.
Notice also that in Exodus God spoke and gave the Law. But with Elijah, God spoke and commanded Elijah to anoint two kings. “You shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel” (I Kings 19:15-16).
In both of these accounts of God speaking from a mountain one gives the Law and one anoints kings. Now, let’s look at the account of the Mount of Transfiguration.
“And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’ When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only” (Matthew 17:1-8).
In this case, Jesus did not go up alone as Moses and Elijah did. Jesus’ closest disciples were with him. Instead of fire and smoke there was bright light. In Exodus, God’s voice thundered. In I Kings God spoke in a whisper. God also spoke in thunder to the disciples, but also in a normal voice when Jesus said, “Rise, and have no fear.” But the real significance is not that Moses and Elijah appeared, it is in what they represent. For, we must remember that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. It was his voice that Moses and the congregation heard on Mount Sinai. And it was his voice that Elijah heard outside the cave. Thus, the two men appearing before Jesus during his incarnation are signposts, pointers, representing these truths:
· Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law (Moses)
· Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy (Elijah), and
· Jesus is the one anointed king
The authority of the Law and the proclamation of prophecy begin and end with Jesus. The Father signifies this when he loudly pronounces, “This is my beloved Son…listen to him!” And beautifully, the first words Jesus speaks after this proclamation are, “Rise, and have no fear.”
What is the Lord doing in your life, right now? Are you fearful of God speaking and changing your life? Are you listening to Jesus? Whatever the Holy Spirit may be convicting you of through the Scripture, God’s word to you is the same as Jesus, “Rise, and have no fear.” In Exodus and I Kings, Moses and Elijah went down the mountain alone. But at the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, John, and James walked down the mountain with Jesus. God is not just a thundering voice or one who commands from afar. In Jesus we are with him, through the presence of his Holy Spirit. So, in this case, we have nothing to fear beyond the reverential fear that is due him. You can submit to him knowing that his word to you is true (Law), and that his calling on your life is sure (Elijah). You can submit to his authority, because he possesses it whether you obey or not, and he much prefers to walk with you down the mountain
So you’ve noticed something.
Your ability to lead well seems to fluctuate.
Some days (and seasons) you seem to be in top shape. You have energy and enthusiasm, a clear mind and your decision making is sharp.
But on other days (and in other seasons) you’re sluggish, fuzzy or so burdened down you feel like you can’t lead anything well.
What gives?
What I’ve learned in leadership is that on most days, there are hidden factors at work. These hidden factors can make you excel, or they can completely work against you.
Knowing what’s at work in the background can be tremendously liberating. Once you realize what’s helping or hurting you, you can deal with it.
So what hidden factors threaten to make or break you as a leader?
Here are 9 I’ve identified at work in my leadership. You’ll notice many have to do with a leader’s mind, while a few are more physical.
It should be no surprise so many of the factors are in your mind. Leadership, after all, is a mind game.
Work at the mental aspect of leadership and you’ll discover what many leaders have discovered: changing your mind can change everything.
Anyone who has led anything remotely significant is familiar with the weight of leadership.
The weight of leadership is the sense of responsibility you carry that goes with your job.
The problem is it never turns off easily.
It follows you home. It accompanies you to bed. It travels with you on vacation.
It’s hard to shake the weight of leadership. You feel it because you are the leader, and you’re likely the leader because you’re the kind of person who feels it.
So what can help lift the weight of leadership? A few things:
Naming it
Doing something fun (the power of distraction)
Prayer
Talking to a friend or mentor who understands
When it’s appropriate, the weight of leadership can spur you toward leading better. But when it crushes you, all of the benefits of feeling responsible for what you lead disappear.
Many leaders run hard. But you can only run so hard so long.
For many of you, it’s been too long.
Any leader can run hard for a season, but even if you avoid burnout, eventually it becomes counterproductive to run hard all the time.
Why?
Your mood tanks. Your fatigue rises. Your productivity drops.
And—bottom line—it’s unsustainable.
Smart leaders ask themselves: Am I living in a way today that will help me thrive tomorrow? If not, why not?
3. Lack Of Sleep
I’ve written about sleep before, and I’ve become a sleep evangelist of sorts over the last decade. (Here’s why sleep is a leader’s secret weapon in my view.)
Frankly, my conversion was involuntary. I used to pride myself on how little sleep I got. Now, most days, I unapologetically nap during the day and generally get 6-8 hours every night.
The truth is, before I started taking sleep seriously, I was awake, but I was a zombie. And despite being awake more hours, I wasn’t nearly as productive as I am today.
To say I’ve been 10x more productive since I started taking sleep seriously is probably not an exaggeration. I wanted to write a book all through my 30s. Never got a manuscript done.
I’ve written 3 in the last 6 years. Plus launched this blog, and a podcast, started speaking at conferences more often, and worked full time on top of that.
I find when I cheat sleep now, it feels like my world comes crashing down. If I can call an audible and simply admit “Man, I’m tired” and get some rest, things come back into alignment surprisingly fast.
Not convinced being rested is a key component to great leadership? Gary Vaynerchuck and Arianna Huffington have a fascinating conversation about the necessity of sleep for leaders here.
Leaders are often famous for taking little time off.
Like missing sleep, you make a mistake when you don’t make the time to recharge.
I’ve discovered over the years that if I am going to operate at my peak, I need a break or a diversion every 6-8 weeks, if even for a day. An extra day off, a short trip or something that can refuel me (even if it’s somewhat work related) is often really restorative.
The longer it’s been since your last break, the longer it will take for you to feel truly great again. So take a break.
Too often leaders think they can separate what happens at work from what happens at home.
Leading poorly at home always impacts how you lead at work. Just like you carry the weight of leadership around with you wherever you go, you also carry the weight of a bad marriage or a fractured family with you wherever you go.
If you win at work but lose at home, you’ve lost.
I6. Constant Connectivity
You can leave work, but thanks to your phone, work never leaves you.
I’m a connected guy, but even I found the constant buzzing of my phone to be too much.
Last year I turned off all notifications on my phone except for phone calls and text messages. And I’m selective about giving out my cell number.
I no longer feel my phone vibrate every time someone emails me, tweets me, likes a pic on Instagram or interacts on Facebook or Snapchat.
This isn’t just a tip for home; it helps at work too. It’s very hard to do any thinking if your phone is buzzing every minute, which for a season of my life it was.
Another change I made last year: sleeping with my phone in another room, turned off. Yep, I know that’s radical. I use an old school alarm clock to wake me up. Most of the time, I’ve slept so well I wake up before the alarm. Imagine that.
As a Christian, I believe everything starts and ends with God.
Your ability to give love is directly related to how deeply you receive love. Your ability to love is like a bank account: you can only withdraw what has been deposited. Make too many withdrawals, and you go bankrupt.
As you know, leadership is a series of withdrawals. So you better make some deposits.
There is no greater source of love than God.
So…
If you want to love the people you lead, it starts with God.
If you want wisdom, it comes from God.
If you want to exude grace, that also comes from God.
When you sever a limb from the tree, it’s only a matter of time until it withers.
8. Nutrition
Almost all food is brain food. Not all of it is good, but all of it affects your brain.
And if you’re paid to think (like many who read this blog are), your nutrition is critical.
Skipping meals, loading up on sugar and otherwise eating poorly impacts everything from your energy level to your blood sugar levels to your ability to think clearly.
I know for me, eating well is essential. Sometimes when I’m getting upset or angry, I realize it’s likely due to the fact I haven’t eaten or I’ve eaten poorly.
I realized a long time ago that I am deeply impacted by two things:
Choice of venue
Being in a single venue for too long
Sometimes, you simply have to step away from the screen, get out of the office and change the scenery.
In fact, I find my best ideas come to me when I’m not behind a computer screen or I’m within the first hour of a fresh venue.
Ideas I love often come to me when I’m cycling, doing yard work, in a fresh place (or favourite place that isn’t an office), or doing anything that doesn’t require me to sit behind a screen and write.
As a result, I have 3 or 4 ‘offices’ I use regularly, ranging from space at our church to a home office to the back porch to our living room.
Sometimes all I need to do to get fresh perspective is change venues.
These are 9 largely silent factors that impact my leadership.
What are you discovering? What helps you be at your best? What hinders you from doing your best?
careynieuwhof.com Used by permission.
Scripture is clear that believers must be faithful to examine and judge our own selves: “If we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31). This calls for a careful searching and judging of our own hearts. Paul called for this self-examination every time we partake of the Lord’s Supper (v. 28). All other righteous forms of judgment depend on this honest self-examination. That is what Jesus meant when He said, “First take the log out of your own eye” (Luke 6:42).
Clearly, the command we previously discussed in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 to “examine everything” in no way contradicts the biblical strictures against being judgmental. The discernment called for here is doctrinal discernment.
The unusually gullible Thessalonians seemed to have a problem in that regard. Like many today, they were eager to believe whatever was preached in the name of Christ. They were undiscriminating. They were prone to be like “children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14). Luke contrasted the Thessalonians with the more discerning church at Berea. The Bereans “were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). Evidently the Thessalonians were lacking in discernment from day one.
Paul addresses this continual lack of discernment in both of his Thessalonian epistles. There is evidence in the first epistle, for example, that someone had confused the Thessalonians about the return of Christ. They were going through a time of severe persecution, and apparently some of them thought they had missed the second coming. In chapter 3 we learn that Paul had sent Timothy from Athens specifically to strengthen and encourage them in their faith (v. 2). They were unaccountably confused about why they were being persecuted. Paul had to remind them:
You yourselves know that we have been destined for this. For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and so it came to pass (vv. 3–4).
Evidently someone had also taught the Thessalonians that believers who died before the second coming of Christ would miss that event entirely. They were in serious confusion. Chapters 4 and 5 contain Paul’s efforts to correct that confusion. He tells them that the dead in Christ will rise and be caught up with the living (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). And he assures them that although that day will come like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2), they need not fear being caught off guard (vv. 3–6).
Incredibly, shortly after this, Paul had to write a second epistle, again assuring the Thessalonians that they had not missed some great event on the prophetic calendar. Someone, it seems, had sent them a counterfeit epistle claiming to be from Paul and suggesting that the Day of the Lord had come already. They should not have been duped by such a ploy, because Paul had written so plainly in his first epistle. He wrote them again:
Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you. (2 Thessalonians 2:1–3)
There was no excuse for their chronic gullibility.
Why were they so vulnerable to false teaching? Surely it was precisely because they lacked the discernment exemplified by the Bereans. The Thessalonians did not examine everything in light of God’s Word. If they had, they would not have been so easily hoodwinked. That is why Paul urged them to “examine all things,” and why we must also heed that counsel.
Re-printed from “Grace to You” gty.org. Released Friday, April 18, 2014.
