Don’t Defend Yourself
As leaders, the nature of our calling exposes us to criticism. The buck stops at leaders and rightfully so. However, it often falls to us to bear the full force of every fully deputized member of the Monday Morning Praise Police. Armed with righteous zeal and an itchy ambition to send you “informative” email, they’re not afraid to let it fly. As humans with egos and tender feelings our nature can lead us to defend ourselves.
In Numbers 12, Moses endured the murmuring of some people on his “leadership team”. They actually were complaining about his wife and questioned why he had chosen her. As they were grumbling, the Bible records one very interesting parenthetical piece of info in verse 3. “Now the man Moses was humble. More than any other man who was on the face of the earth.”

What?

Wow.

Here comes the comfort. When faced with criticism, the main thing the Bible says of Moses is that he was humble, more than any other man in the world.  As you read further, it’s the Lord who vigorously comes to Moses’ defense, declaring that he speaks with him face to face & distinguishes him above prophets and any other person from among the children of Israel. Moses’ relied on the presence of God to be his defense.  God dealt with the murmurers in his way, assuring Moses that He will be defender and that Moses’ should continue to revel the presence of God.

Lord, let our instinct to defend ourselves be tempered by time in your presence and the humility that comes from being in your company. Also, give all those who grumble against us leprosy…but just for a week: then take it back. Thanks.