LEADERS ARE PROPHETIC
far would Moses have gone if he had taken a poll in Egypt?
What would Jesus Christ have preached if He had taken a
poll in the Land of Israel? What would have happened to the
Reformation if Martin Luther had taken a poll? It isn’t polls
or public opinion of the moment that counts. It is right and
wrong and leadership.”^14
- Moses paid the price for his leadership – alone on the mountain,
alone on the plain, misunderstood and criticized...The Old
Testament prophets were lonely men. Enoch walked alone in
a decadent society as he preached judgment. His compensation
was the presence of God. Jonah was alone in vast Nineveh, a
heathen city of a million souls. The loneliest preacher today
is the person who has been entrusted with a prophetic message
ahead of the times, a message that cuts across the temper of
the age...Gregarious Paul was a lonely man, misunderstood by
friends, misrepresented by enemies, deserted by converts. How
poignant are his words to Timothy: “ You know that everyone
in the province of Asia has deserted me” (2 Timothy 1:15).
“Most of the world’s greatest souls have been lonely,”
wrote A.W. Tozer. “Loneliness seems to be the price a saint
must pay for his saintliness.” The leader must be a person who,
while welcoming the friendship and support of all who offer
it, has sufficient inner resources to stand alone...^15