FollowtheLeader.indd

FOLLOW THE LEADER

itself. Leadership in the wilderness has had to learn to deal with things
like discontentment, dissatisfaction, murmuring, complaining, negativity,
quitting, giving up, going back.

In the wilderness a leader very quickly comes to the end of his rope...
end of his resources...end of his energy...end of his perseverance...end of
his patience – the end of the line. It is usually then and there that a leader
begins to come to the end of himself – which is the real purpose of
wilderness training from God’s perspective! It is in the wilderness that
the flesh reaches the end of its limits. At that point, God usually has His
greatest opportunity to manifest Himself. It was through such a time of
severe testing that Paul heard God say: “My grace is sufficient for you,
for My power is made perfect in weakness.” As a result of learning that
lesson Paul cried out:

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my

weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is

why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults,

in hardships, in persecutions, in diff iculties. For when I

am weak, then I am strong” (II Cor. 12:9-10).

Previous to this time, Paul had earnestly beseeched God to remove his
painful and debilitating “...thorn in the flesh” (II Cor. 12:8). But in His
infinite mercy and wisdom, God knew that He could teach Paul something
with the thorn – which Paul would never learn without the thorn. Through
the thorn, Paul realized that...

• His insufficiency was an opportunity for God’s all sufficiency.


• His impotence was an opportunity for God’s power.


• His weakness was the opportunity for God’s strength.


• His impatience was an opportunity for God’s forbearance.


• His ignorance was the opportunity for God’s wisdom.


• His intolerance was the opportunity for God’s love.


• His end was God’s beginning!

The wilderness brings out both the worst – and the best – in people.
Which again is the reason God puts people through a time of wilderness
wandering. That’s why Moses reminded the people:

“Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way

in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test