by Pastor Afolabi Oladele

When leaders fail, it demands of us to be even more cautious! There is one common trend in these telling examples:

And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. Exodus 14:10-16

In Exodus 14:10-16, despite his word of encouragement to the people, verse 15 showed Moses in despair and anguish in the face of an urgent situation without an obvious solution.

In Exodus 32:1-6, the people became impatient waiting for Moses to return and asked Aaron to make them a god. Seemingly without resistance to the people’s urge, Aaron requested their golden jewelry, formed it into the shape of a calf, and created an idol. He even built an altar in front of the calf and announced a festival for it. It may seem difficult to understand how a man who had so willingly obeyed God’s call to help his brother lead the people out of Egypt, seen God’s amazing works firsthand, and just recently seen God on Mount Sinai could do such a thing. While we may not know Aaron’s motivation, it is not hard to imagine that he might have doubted God and feared the people; and finally the case of King Saul.

In 1 Samuel 10:8 Samuel told Saul, thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do. But King Saul did not wait, his excuse was that, I saw the people scattered from me (see 1 Samuel 13:8-14).

Are we now called to please men and succumb to comments that drive us against God’s faithfulness to keep His covenant at His appointed time?

Selah