Numbers 12:1-8 
Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard this. 

(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) 

At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, he said, “Listen to my words: 

“When there is a prophet among you, 
I, the LORD, reveal myself to them in visions, 
I speak to them in dreams. 
But this is not true of my servant Moses; 
he is faithful in all my house. 
With him I speak face to face, 
clearly and not in riddles; 
he sees the form of the LORD. 
Why then were you not afraid 
to speak against my servant Moses?” (NIV)

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What qualifies a person for leadership, and in particular, spiritual leadership? 

It is not heritage. Aaron was Moses’ big brother, the firstborn. If anyone could pull rank on Old Mo, it was his big brother. All the laws and customs were bent that way. His big sister was obviously more artistic and entertaining than Old Mo. It was her who had shepherded his little basket right into Pharaoh’s daughter’s beach party. She was the one who gave her the idea to get a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. 

It is not ability. Aaron was some kind of craftsman. While Moses was lost on the mountain, Aaron was melting gold, shaping a bull, and calling it the LORD. Miriam led the people in song when they safely arrived on the other side of the Red Sea.

It is not desire. Aaron and Miriam’s desire to share in Moses’ authority might have begun in the right place with the right motive. It veered off course when they wanted to be revered and respected like Moses. After all, they thought, Moses could not have accomplished what he had without Aaron and Miriam’s voices. 

Who we are related to, what we do better than ten thousand others, and what we want for ourselves has nothing to do with our ability to shape God’s plans and purposes. What sets Moses apart from Aaron and Miriam? The answer is found in verse 3.

“(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)”

The single differentiator between true spiritual leaders and wannabes is humility. Anyone who wants to seize leadership lacks the single qualifying characteristic required for spiritual leadership. 

Humble leaders understand that God is God, and they are not. 

Humble leaders hear and obey God, and they don’t make up their own rules.

Humble leaders understand that even they make mistakes and must bear the consequences. They know they are not above the law.

Humble leaders equip others for what they know they cannot accomplish on their own. 

Humble leaders do God’s will God’s way in God’s timing with God’s resources. 

Aaron and Miriam wanted more credit. Moses wanted more God. 

Aaron and Miriam wanted the spotlight. Moses required a veil because he glowed with the glory of God. 

Aaron and Miriam wanted a say. Moses wanted to hear God clearly and obey him conspicuously. 

Jesus said it this way:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭5‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

John the Baptist knew what Moses knew, and what Aaron and Miriam came to know in how this event played out. (See Numbers 12:9-16.) JB famously said, 

“He must become greater; I must become less.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Dear spiritual leader, qualification number one is humility. Only God is God. You are not. Do not pretend to be more than you are. Do not seek credit that belongs to God alone. Do not grasp for what God will freely place in your hands when he chooses you for his purposes. 

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I will give more attention to God’s greatness than to my position and renown. 

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Our Father, you are God, and I am not. You are in charge of all things, including me. Empower me to see myself as you see me. Deliver me from the temptation to think I am more than I am. May your will be done and my name be unknown now and forever. Amen.