Sometimes
the way we think about things hurts us more than the actual events themselves. Such is the case in Exodus chapter one. It starts by sharing the thoughts of the new
Egyptian Pharaoh who says, “The Israelites have become much too numerous for
us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them
or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our
enemies, fight against us and leave the country” (verse 10).
Do you see
the problem? The new Pharaoh is
convinced that, as the leader, his job is to “control” things. Unfortunately, that rarely works.
First of
all, the motivation is wrong. Control is
almost always fear based and fear based reactions most often lead in the wrong
direction. The Pharaoh feared that this
big group of foreigners in his land would side with his enemies, but that fear
was completely unfounded. Who knows? Maybe the Israelites would have been loyal to
Egypt, but, because Pharaoh assumes the worst, he reacts badly.
Out of
fear, he put harsh task masters over the Israelites and makes their lives
miserable. In the end, by trying to
force his will on the situation, he actually caused the very problem that he
was trying to avoid. Pharaoh turns the
Israelites against him and makes them eager to leave the country. Fear based decisions almost always make
things worse.
The other
reason control does not work is that control is an illusion! Even if we can manipulate people and
circumstances to our liking for a little while, it will not and cannot
last. It simply does not work. It is similar to putting a lid on a pot of
boiling water. You can keep the steam in
for a while, but, eventually, it is coming out and when it does it is likely
coming out in a big way with a lot of commotion. Pharaoh found this out the hard way too. The more he tried to impose his will and
control the Israelites, the stronger and more numerous they became (Exodus 1:12
and 20).
As writer Donald
Miller points out, “Even God does try to control people and he is the only one
who actually can. Perhaps there is a
lesson in there for us”. I think that he
is right!
Instead of
telling yourself that it is your job to control or fix everything, maybe you
would be better off focusing on what you can control: You!
In reality,
real and lasting change comes only when we do what we should do and when we
treat people they way they should be treated.
Leading by example is
the only leadership that works.
Comments