Mountaintop
leaders understand that before the giants are conquered, they
will have the faith that by the grace of God, the task will
be accomplished. Mountaintop leaders have an infectious optimism,
but that is not all. They have a rugged determination based
on a profound conviction that with God all things are possible.
But what separates extraordinary leaders from ordinary leaders?
What makes the critical difference? There are significant
individuals who believe that the biggest problem in the society
is the leadership crisis that has plagued us for several decades.
Therefore, we must spend time—I mean quality time—examining
this phenomenon. You cannot produce leaders after a weekend
seminar or through an impressive public relations campaign.
You cannot produce leaders in a post-cabinet press conference.
You cannot produce leaders by destroying institutions.
There is a very interesting event that is recorded in the
Bible in Numbers 13. Moses sent 12 spies into the land of
Canaan to inspect the land. It is important to note that God
gave the “land of Canaan to the children of Israel.”
There was absolutely no doubt about God’s communication
to Moses. Jehovah Jireh, who had brought them out of the land
of Egypt, was telling the Israelites that it was time to expand
their territory.
After communicating the vision, the next step was the preparation
for the battle.
A very significant part of the strategy was the inspection
of the land. Subsequently, Moses sent the 12 spies who were
supposed to bring back a report. They agreed that the land
was productive, secure and impressive.
But then came the majority and minority reports. Let us observe
the differences that created the crisis in the camp of Israel.
Therefore, we must read Numbers 13:25-33:
“25. And they returned from searching of the land after
40 days.
26. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to
all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness
of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and
to all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the
land.
27. And they told him, and said, we came unto the land whither
thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey,
and this is the fruit of it.
28. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land,
and the cities are walled, and very great: and more over we
saw the children of Anak.
29. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South: and the
Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the
mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the
coast of Jordan.
30. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, let
us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to
overcome it.
31. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able
to up against the people, for they are stronger than we.
32. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they
had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land,
through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth
up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw
in it are men of a great stature.
33. And there we saw giants, the sons of Anak which come of
the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers,
and so we were in their sight.”
Ten spies saw danger, while two mountaintop leaders saw opportunity.
Ten spies lacked determination, two spies understood that
the difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little
longer.
It was Charles Swindoll who said that “we are all faced
with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised
as impossible situations.”
Helen Keller, Florence Nightingale, Martin Luther King, Mahatma
Gandhi, Winston Churchill saw opportunities, when ordinary
leaders could only see danger.
Erwin W Lutzer says that the rest of the book of Joshua proves
a basic principle: “the state of the heart within, determines
the rest of the battle without.” With characteristic
wisdom Luther said, “I fear my own heart more than I
do all the cardinals and the Pope.”
The anthropologist Darrell Posey has shown, for example, how
the Kayapó of the southern Amazon have developed a
farming system which permits them to survive in places otherwise
hostile to agriculture.
They cultivate fire-resistant sweet potatoes, which catch
the nutrients released when tree-trunks are burnt, and a staple
crop which both produces its own pesticides and, through a
commensal relationship with a species of ant, weeds itself.
Their survival relies on a refined appreciation of microclimates
and the relationships between animals and plants. By contrast
to almost all the more recently established cultivators in
the Amazon, they both improve the soil, and, through planting
islands of useful trees in the savannah, expand the forest
cover.
These communities produced mountaintop leaders, leaders who
developed strategies to overcome the walls that the giants
constructed. Giants become obstacles because of the walls
that they erect on a consistent basis. To destroy the giants,
their walls must be eliminated.
The ten spies planted the seeds of doubt and despair in the
camp of Israel. It was left to the next generation to succeed
where the present generation failed. The incurable optimists
Caleb and Joshua moved forward with a faith than was stronger
than the walls.
This faith was rewarded on the night before the battle of
Jericho, when an angel appeared with a flaming sword outside
of the walls of Jericho and reinforced the faith and courage
of Caleb and Joshua.
We need that angel now in the republic of T&T. When we
have a two-year-old being gunned down—a child who was
innocent, who did not and could not hurt anyone—then
we have to understand that we need the angel with the flaming
sword. Now we are hearing that this child was caught in the
URP gang-turf wars. What a tragedy!
This is my prayer during this perilous time: “Jesus,
loving Jesus, we need you and we need you now. Come with
your flaming sword and deliver us from the kidnappers and
murderers, the gang leaders who are seeking to destroy this
nation. Save our youth from their brutal tentacles.”
