In  Numbers 20.1-13 Moses sees water come from a rock for the second time in his life but something went awry in Moses’ leadership in the process of this miracle. Feel free to read the text first but here’s a few leadership lessons I take away from this passage:

Hearing from God is not an excuse to be harsh with people.
Moses and Aaron were fresh out of a time  spent “face to face” with God (vs 6) and still they treated the  people harshly (vs 10). Those kinds of actions can become a habit and easily turn into a pattern of abusive authority. Spending time getting wisdom, instruction and direction from God should cultivate humility in us and a compassion for the people we serve NOT produce arrogance that we know the way and everyone should get on board. Abusive authority – even for the “I’ve heard from God” reason – will leave nothing but damage in your wake.

Don’t take credit for what only God can do.
Moses said “Must we bring you water from this rock?”(vs 10)  -as if he and Aaron could do such a thing.  Moses – who Scripture says was the most humble man in the world – had the wrong motives and did the wrong thing and God still did what no one else could. Truth is- sometimes God gets things done despite us, not because of us. He chooses to include us in His work of redemption – where in that is there room for pride?

Being faithful and obedient defines success not results.
How many times can you get water to come out of a rock in the desert so that millions of people and thousands of animals can drink? Well, twice if you’re Moses I guess (see also Exodus 19) but according to God this wasn’t a successful endeavor. God told these leaders that they had NOT trusted Him enough to demonstrate His holiness to the people  and informed them of the consequences of their actions (vs 12). It’s easy to look at results for our leadership validation,  however, results can be decieving. Being faithful and obedient to God gives you confidence even when results are not apparent or what you expected.

If Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth and he fell into these traps, what hope do we have? Only the work of the Holy Spirit in our life. Here’s those three points again:

Hearing from God is not an excuse to be harsh with people.
Don’t take credit for what only God can do.
Being faithful and obedient defines success not results.