What is in your hand? Ability? A fine mind? Power to influence people? Eloquence? Personality? Talent? Throw it down—there might be a snake in it! Regardless of our personal talents and abilities, God is committed to character, not talent. He wants us to be totally dependent on Him. What is in your hand? Let God have it. There could be a little sin left in it. A little serpent life might be there that you don't even know about.
We must take our gifts—whatever they may be—and cast them at the feet of Jesus. Let Him take the serpent—the flesh—out of them and give them back to us. Then they become the power of God in our lives. Where leadership is concerned, that even includes the "approval" of the people you lead. Leadership can be lonely at times, and misunderstanding seems to be part of the leadership package. Even Jesus had to live with misunderstanding throughout His earthly ministry, and after all, He was perfect. The rest of us should expect to run into some problems that call for even more relinquishment along the way.
Moses didn't fit the stereotype of a great leader. His first attempt to help his people led to murder, rejection by the Hebrews, and a frantic flight into the wilderness. To say he was totally misunderstood might be an understatement. The misunderstanding became stronger the longer the Israelites marched through the wilderness
Finally, a Levite leader named Korah rose up with 250 top leaders and publicly challenged Moses' leadership. Moses fell to the ground and humbly buried his face in the sand, and God showed up righteous anger and instantly buried Korah and his cohorts in the sand. Those men didn't understand that Moses' power came from his relinquishment of everything to the Lord. (See Numbers 16.) Moses also knew what it was like to have his own family misunderstand him. Miriam and Aaron, his older sister and brother, even tried to usurp his authority one time, but once again God stepped in and settled the matter. (See Numbers 12.) Sometimes those closest to you— your own family—will be the ones who misunderstand.
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Why did Jesse bring all his sons except David when the prophet invited him to a sacrifice with his sons? (See 1 Samuel 16: 11.) David wrote, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me" (Ps. 51:5 NKJV). It is interesting that this is the only mention of David's mother in the Bible, other than when he asked the King of Moab for asylum for his "father and mother" (1 Sam. 22:3 NKJV).
Have you ever wondered if David was an illegitimate child? Perhaps his father did not consider him to be one of his true sons. It is just a thought, but if it is true, then it only reinforces the power of relinquishment. This is the power that helped David leave his history in his past! God has been known to take the downcast and illegitimate and make them legitimate!
God saw past the surface and peered into David's heart. When young David told King Saul he would go out to meet Goliath in battle, he didn't brag, "Watch how good my aim is!" He didn't even mention the slingshot and the five smooth stones or the fact that he had just enough "ammunition" for Goliath. He just said, "The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine" (1 Sam. 17:37a).