Powerless Leadership
“for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.” Exodus 18:18
Alone – Moses is acknowledged as Israel’s greatest leader, but the way that he led the people flies in the face of a lot of today’s leadership advice. The encounter with Jethro is a prime example of powerless leadership – the only kind of leadership that God seems to endorse.
If you read the whole story here, you see that Moses takes the typical leadership posture – at the top of the hierarchy. His motivation is good. He wants the people to get answers to their questions. He wants to bring them God’s decisions. He cares for their welfare. But he falls prey to the top-dog syndrome, even though his heart is in the right place. As a result, everyone waits. The people spend their time uselessly because Moses is the single source of wisdom. What Moses forgot is that God is the God of distributive community. Only one person stands as the head of God’s entire family, and that Man doesn’t come on the scene for another five thousand years. Even after Yeshua arrives, distributive community is still the operating procedure. God does not endorse hierarchical organization, but He does endorse multiple assignments. Everyone has an equally important role to play in the kingdom of priests.
Jethro confronts Moses. “What are you doing? This isn’t right.” He tells Moses that God’s plan requires the delegation of authority, not the accumulation of power. “You cannot do this le va dekha (by yourself).” The root word badad (the b sounds like v) is used to describe isolation. It’s applied to lepers who are to live apart from all others. What a powerful image! Jethro tells Moses that the top-dog syndrome is leadership leprosy. Isolated, alone at the top of the pile, the leader clutches power in order to retain control while all the time his isolation fuels the fear that drives him toward more control. He defeats himself. The leprosy eats him alive.
God has another way. God’s leaders give away their power (deliberately) by delegating authority to others. This must be intentional because the distribution of authority cannot happen by accident. A godly leader knows that there is no safety and no victory in power. God is the God of weakness. So, in order to combat the natural, human propensity for hierarchy, and honor the God of weakness, a godly leader deliberately gives up authority – and the power that goes along with it. Why? Because a godly leader knows that all authority is a gift, not a reward. God grants authority. I do not earn it. Therefore, when I pass God’s authority on to others, I lose nothing. It wasn’t mine in the first place. Distributing authority glorifies the Giver by serving the community in the distribution. The act of distributing authority honors the God Who gives liberally and abundantly to all His children in order for them to be the kingdom of priests.
Of course, there are requirements for receiving this authority. Jethro spells out some of them, but that’s another group of words. Today, we see that powerless leadership is God’s way. Is that your objective? Are you deliberately creating a kingdom without hierarchy? Or are you infected with leadership leprosy – alone, at the top?
Topical Index: Leadership, Authority
