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Lead Like Moses Devotional 30

by David Joynt on July 11, 2022


EXODUS 34:30 | 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him.

Charismatic connection with God can be recognizable in leaders. Some Pentecostals call it “the anointing” and stress the self-validating, self-authenticating nature of it. It can be very powerful to sense someone is operating under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit.

But notice the reaction of the Israelites. There is fear and trepidation as well as admiration felt for Moses. Divine authority threatens human control, and puts a leader in a unique position of power. As we shall see this week, direct divine revelation is not always the way God communicates with us, and to rely solely on it is to risk concentrating too much authority with charismatic leaders who are not infallible in discerning God’s direction.

Have you encountered spiritually powerful leaders?

What is good and what is problematic about this emphasis?

Tags: leader, spiritual, powerful

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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