A Leader In The Rough

One minute he was enjoying the pleasures of E_gyptian royalty, the next he had blood on his hands, murdering an Egyptian after seeing him mistreat a fellow Hebrew. Now he was a fugitive, running for his life trying to escape the grasp of the world's most powerful man. He ran until he decided it was safe to stop, catching his breath in Midian at a well, some 280 miles away from Egypt.

Seven girls catch his eye. Trying to take care of their father's very thirsty flock, they are bullied by some shepherds who obviously have no concept of being gentlemen. So he intervenes again, but this time it's a drastically different story. He helps the damsels in distress and takes care of their flock. This time he receives no bounty on his head, but blessings. Reuel (also called Jethro) respects this man who showed his daughters respect, giving him food, a job, a place to live, and his daughter Zipporah hand in marriage.

When we look at the Exodus 2 version of Moses, we begin seeing a leader in the rough, some of the leadership qualities that God must've seen and planned to refine.

A leader sees when his people are hurting.

Exodus 2:11 "Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. "

Moses didn't turn a blind eye towards those who were hurting, the Hebrews. Do you take the time to look at others' burdens?

A leader learns to keep his emotions in check.

A leader devoid of emotion would be a robot, and an emotional leader would allow his emotions to cloud his judgment. A leader with wisdom keeps his emotions in check.

A leader knows when to move.

Moses was good at moving-remember the cloud and the pillar of fire by night`? His first born was even named "stranger in a foreign land!" He couldn't be a guy who got attached to the places where he was only camping-there was a Promised Land, and Egypt wasn't it, and neither was the wilderness! We've got to remember those things, too.

A leader isn't afraid to get his hands dirty.

Exodus 2:17 says that Moses stood up, and helped them. Being a great leader isn't telling others what to do-it's showing others what to do. Eric