Daily Devotional Writing from Pastor Scott

Numbers 11: Would that all God’s people were prophets. Would that God would put his Spirit on all of them.
The first thing about spiritual leadership
There is more going on in Numbers 11 than just Moses needing to organize with some key leaders. God intends to take some of the Spirit he’s given Moses and divide it up among those chosen to assist him. When seventy leaders are gathered to initiate this new approach something spiritual happens, and, in ways that cause us to think of the unique events on the Day of Pentecost, there are outward signs of this spiritual event. A couple of the chosen leaders miss the meeting and out there in the camp they too publicly prophesy. It’s this public display that concerns some. When word is brought to Moses he’s undisturbed. It’s okay with him for God to place his Spirit on them even though they missed the meeting. In fact, he wishes all God’s people were endowed for service. Here I see that beyond all the articles in “Leadership Magazine” and beyond all the good advice in “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, and beyond all the important leadership lessons to be learned is the fact that God gifts people for leadership. Leadership in the Kingdom is first, a spiritual act. Pastors and other church leaders must never forget that. Our authority is based on God putting his Spirit in us.

This statement to governor Zerubbabel is part of one of the most famous portions of Zechariah’s writings. Zerubbabel has already accomplished great things in leading the exiles back to Jerusalem. Now, in response to the urgings of Haggai and Zechariah he’s ready to shoulder the task of rebuilding the Temple. His heart, and the hearts of his people, is in the right place and God is pleased with them. The Lord’s words to the good man and his people are wonderfully encouraging: the Temple will be rebuilt not because of some extraordinary human effort, but by the power of God’s Spirit. This doesn’t mean that the governor and people can sit back and do nothing while a Temple rises from the ashes of destruction, but it does mean that the power for this project is coming from God. The Lord will be with them, not only approving of their actions but empowering them as well. With that in mind I see here that my efforts to accomplish things in the Name of the Lord are not limited by my own initiative, skills, or intelligence. Every program of the church should be eligible for the label: “God powered.” If that isn’t an encouraging word I don’t know what is.

The Hebrew prophets were, in general, positive people. Sometimes they had negative messages to give and sometimes they spoke harshly but they always found a place to promise a better day. In the face of the natural disaster that has befallen his people, Joel calls for them to take stock of their lives and repent of their sin. Then he describes a coming better day. He sees a day when God will “make up for the years of the locust,” restoring what has been destroyed. He pictures tables full of food and people filled with words of praise and thanksgiving. Then Joel says, “If you think that stuff sounds good wait till you hear what else is coming!” He then describes a day of wonderful blessing in which God pours his Spirit out upon, not just one nation, but upon all the nations of the world. He says that in that day their sons and daughters will prophecy and people from all nations and stations of life will be blessed. This event, Joel says, will happen before the “Judgment Day of God.” Years later Peter will quote these words on the Day of Pentecost. Peter will tell people that they are literally seeing the “Spirit pouring” promise being fulfilled before their very eyes. Even today, we live in that “in between” period of history. We are between the outpouring of the Spirit and the Judgment Day of God. What a wonderful time in which to live! We are in the “day of the Spirit.” This is the time when, according to Joel, “Whoever calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.”