Leadership, sometimes, equals loneliness. Let's talk about it on this edition of Key Life. This is Key Life. If you are into playing games with God, turn off your radio now. This is a program designed to help beggars tell other beggars what they found bread. Here's Steve with a teaching for today. Thanks, Mike. If you had your Bible, turn to the book of numbers. We're in the process of an Old Testament survey. And we're not in any hurry. And when we get tired of this, or if I get tired of it, if you write me and say I'm tired of this Old Testament survey, we'll set it aside for a little bit and go do something else, and then come back to it. But I'm committed as long as I have breath. We're going to finish this Old Testament survey. Frankly, most Christians are not really big on the Old Testament. And that is a pity. So we're taking some time with each of the Old Testament books and we're up to the book of numbers. And what I'm doing, having introduced the book properly to you, having given you some of the main themes of the book of numbers, I'm taking the time to just meander throughout the book and pick up some of my favorite texts as we go along. Now, if you have your Bible, turn to numbers 11, 10 through 15, and then we'll drop down to verse 17. And this is what we read. Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly and Moses was displeased. Moses said to the Lord, why hast thou dealt ill with thy servant? And why have I not found favor in thy sight that thou dost lay the burden of all this people upon me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I bring them for every pastor who's listening to me right now understands? Did I conceive this people? Did I bring them forth that they should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries the suckling child to the land, which thou did swear to give to this people for they weep before me and say, give us meat that we may eat. I'm not able to carry all these people alone. The burden is too heavy for me, if thou wilt deal thus with me, kill me at once. If I find favor in thy sight that I may not see my wretchedness. And then down in verses 16 and 17, and the Lord said to Moses, Moses, gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders of the people and officers over them. And bring them to the tent of meeting and let them take their stand there with you. And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the spirit which is upon you and put it upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you that you may not bear it yourself alone. Now the first thing I want you to know here is the honesty of Moses before God. Are you that honest before God? Moses had just about headed up to his ears. You can find that throughout the Bible. For instance, in Jeremiah, if you have a Bible you might want to flip over there to the 12th chapter. Jeremiah is kind of my model because everything he did he messed up. That's true man, he said for the people to go and they came, he said come and they went. I mean everything, that's why he's called the weeping prophet. It isn't from the pathos of loving God. It's from having this people who just wouldn't follow him and wouldn't listen to anything that he did. Now listen to what Jeremiah says in the 12th chapter of Jeremiah. Righteous are you, O Lord, when I plead with you. You let me talk with you about your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously? Now Jeremiah is talking about his own people. You have planted them, yes, they have taken root, they grow, yes, they bear fruit. You are near in their mouth but far from their mind but you, O Lord, know me. You have seen me and you have tested my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and prepare them for the day of slaughter. How long will the land mourn and the herbs of every field wither? The beasts and the birds are consumed for the wickedness of those who dwell there. Because they said he will not see our final end. Listen, no, God didn't just say Jeremiah, all right, I'm going to destroy them. God has a filter and aren't you glad? But those are the accurate words of an honest leader who stands before God. When I was a pastor, I used to say sometimes from the pulpit, there is nothing wrong with this church that I can't fix with a few funerals. And then everybody's laugh because they thought I was joking. Actually, I was joking, sort of. But the point here is Moses' extreme honesty before God. Let me taste them. When you pray the next time, don't tell God you love him if you don't. Don't tell him you're pleased to be serving him if you aren't pleased. Don't tell him that everything is wonderful when it's not wonderful and if you're angry, be angry with him because ultimately he is the one who is responsible. Let me recommend a great book to you by two friends of mine, Dan Allender and Trimper Longman. They wrote a book called The Cry of the Soul. And it's a book about the book of Psalms. And in their book they talk about the importance of honesty before the God of the universe. Change my prayer life. When I found out there was no need trying to hide how I felt when I was praying. Did you hear about the man who was drunk and he was having the DTs and he finally gave into his wife who said she would pray for him. She got her knees and said, Lord, my husband is sourced. He's drunk. And he reached over and touched her, said, Don't tell him that, tell him I'm sick. But that's the way we pray, isn't it? We pretend that God doesn't understand how we feel. Do you know what gets me up in the morning, Jesus and coffee? I don't want to sound too pious about this, but I'm an early riser. And I spend a significant portion of time before the throne. You say, Well, that must be a wonderful spiritual time. No, it's not really sometimes. Sometimes I just have a pity party. Sometimes I tell God, I don't like what he's doing in my life. Sometimes I tell him, I'm not pleased at all. You say, Steve, you can do that with a getting struck damage again. How do I know? Because of numbers 11, 10 through 15, Moses honesty before the God of the universe, I love to pray. Because it's the one place in my life where I can be totally honest, say exactly what I think and know that I won't be kicked out, that I'll be loved. You see, you see, God's not angry at us and God wasn't angry at Moses in this particular situation for his honesty. Now, while we're on these verses, let me let me show you something else. Two things are taught here. The first is the loneliness of leadership. If you've been listening to this broadcast very long, you know that on Fridays, Pete, generally, and if he's not in, I do, we pray for the pastors and the leaders and the church all across America. Why do we do that? Because Pete and I, he's still a pastor. I used to be a pastor. We understand that sometimes when you're in leadership, you bear a secret you can't share with anybody else. You carry burdens that nobody else can carry for you. You walk roads that nobody else can walk. That's why you need to be praying for your pastor. That's why you need to be going to your pastor. And your pastor's family and saying, you know, it's a hard road for you sometimes. And I want to hold up your arms, but I also want you to note. And if you're a leader in the church and you feel real lonely about it, I want to show you something else too. When you drop down to the 16th and 17th verses of this number's 11 chapter, you begin to see that God not only gave us a need for brothers and sisters to stand with us. He makes provision for that to happen. There is a loneliness in leadership. But frankly, when I look back over my ministry, I see that sometimes I was lonely when I didn't have to be lonely. I think of people who came to me and said, Steve, I'll bear some of this burden for you. I'll stand with you. And when I accepted that, the burden was less. And when I didn't, the loneliness was sometimes so debilitating. I could hardly stand it. And so God does require some loneliness and leadership, but not as much as you think, make sure that there are those who stand with you. Right now, I'll flip over to the 13th chapter of numbers, and we'll just kind of glance at this and spend a little bit more time talking about it tomorrow. But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and occupy it for we are well able to overcome. Now, that's the minority report from the Promised Land. And Caleb says, we can do this thing. Then look at number 14, 1 through 3, then all the congregation raised allowed to try. And the people wept that night, and all the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, the whole congregation said to them, would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in the wilderness? Why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt? You ever feel that way? Boy, I do something. You know, look at the places where God has led me and said, God, I don't think I want to go there. I mean, I've had to do things that I didn't want to do and go places I didn't want to go and say things I didn't want to say. But God, God leads you into those places. And if He leads you there, He will provide for you when you get there. Now, let me tell you something that's really important. As you know, the committee went and staked out the land, and there was a majority report, and the majority said, they're giants in that land, they're going to eat our lunch. I know the text doesn't say that, but that's in the original Hebrew. And then the minority reports, and we belong to God. We can do this. Let me tell you something. Truth and God's will is never decided by a vote. When God leads, follow, even if it's scary, and if you do, He will provide where He leads. You think about that? I mean, listen, I want to send you this booklet, if you'd like to receive, it's called Christmas Meditations. And if you'll give me a call at 1-800-Keylife, you can do that 24 hours a day, or you can write Keylife Post Office Box 5,000, Madeleine Florida, 3-2794, or Keylife Canada, Post Office Box 3-2150, Cambridge, Ontario, N-3-H5-N-3, or you can email Steve at Keylife.org and ask for the booklet Christmas Meditations. Let me tell you something. It's hard to think about Jesus' Christmas. I mean, the pagans have messed this thing up so bad that we don't have time to do anything except do stuff. Now that's my problem. Maybe yours. You'll find that this little booklet Christmas Meditations will help you focus and remember what Christmas is all about. And as I said, I'd love to send it to you absolutely free without charge or obligation. All you've got to do is ask. Now that does not mean that I will refuse a contribution. We send out hundreds of thousands of dates and pieces of literature free all over the world. And it's very expensive and some of you guys have been called to help us. Pray about it and if you're one of them, be as generous as you can. You can charge a contribution on your Master Guard, Visa Discover Guard, including in your envelope and for any contribution of any size when you've wetted it. I'll send you the cassette teaching as my thank you five passage of God's love. Hey, I got to go. Keylife is a production of Keylife Network.