Becoming a Servant for His Glory: A 5-Day Devotional by Dr. Miguel NunezSample

DAY 4: The Need for Time 

The Biblical account allows us to see different ways of "being before doing." Moses spent 40 years in the desert, and prior to that, he spent 40 in the palace of the king of Egypt. God began using him as His prophet 80 years after he had been born. 

What did Moses do during all of that time in the desert? What did he learn? 

He certainly learned a lot because serving 40 years in the sand and under the direction of his  father-in-law (Jethro) has the tendency to produce humility in a person, something that, in effect, occurred; as the Word of God reveals that Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth, as we just mentioned. In Pharaoh's palace, Moses was treated as a prince, but in the desert, he was simply a shepherd of sheep. Thus, Moses learned humility; he learned to serve; and he learned to follow. If you have not learned to follow others, you are not ready to lead. Believe me. There has not been one leader who was not first a good follower.

Joshua was formed in Moses's shadow, Elisha under the leadership of Elijah, and Timothy was trained by Paul. The good follower learns submission, humility, and patience, while also learning to listen. The great leaders have always learned all of this prior to being used greatly by God.  

The testimony of the Old Testament demonstrates that reaching maturity and becoming a servant takes time. Even so, the reality is that none of us will become a Moses; therefore, 40 years in the desert is not necessary for us. Thank God!  

But we do, in fact, need time; and if we continue to examine the life of this great prophet of God, we will observe another way in which God demonstrates the fact that we need a time of preparation and a work in our character before beginning to serve. 

When Moses is overloaded with work, Jethro, an older and probably more emotionally mature man, appears and counsels Moses in Exodus 18 to choose certain men who had already arrived at the point of "being before doing." 

The New Testament is no different. In one of his epistles, Paul instructs Timothy, his youngest disciple, regarding when to place people into service and what type of people should serve. We know that there are diverse types of service, and some require more time than others or require more character than others; but at the end of the day, the idea is the same: in order to serve, there should be a time of formation and preparation of character. If our character has not been formed, the best thing we can do is wait for it to be prepared.