127 Sermon Illustrations on Criticism

Our grandson Jordan couldn't wait to tell me. His Grandma had bought a little kit for him called the "Magic Garden." Together, they put together these little plastic pieces that formed the frame for an outdoor scene that had a mountain as its backdrop. Then Grandma helped Jordan pour the liquid from the kit over the crystals that are hiding in designated areas of that frame. The next day Jordan came to our house to see what had happened to that scene. When he stopped by my office to tell me, his eyes got big and his hands were in motion to try to explain to me what he had seen - he just said, "It grow!" And he had this kind of sense of wonderment. He was right - the trees had sprouted full pink foliage overnight, colorful flowers and bushes had bloomed, and, as Jordan said, "Mountain grow snow." Well, sure enough, the mountain had filled in with a cover of snow. Last night's plain plastic frame had suddenly exploded into this fully blooming, technicolor show!

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Growing Amazing Gardens."

That "Magic Garden" kit appears pretty plain and unimpressive at first look. But the secret is that there's all kinds of potential beauty there. Of course, you'll never see that beauty if you don't water it to make it grow! By the way - people are like that, too. Including some folks in your personal world right now. They may not look or feel like they're much - but they've got all kinds of potential for beauty ... if someone will water what needs to grow.

God gives us a hint of this life-changing chemistry in our word for today from the Word of God in Ephesians 4:15-16. He says, "Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

The "water" in this chemistry for growth is "speaking the truth in love" and things that "build up" those that we're in contact with. If we nurture the good things in people, if we love them by telling them the truth about Jesus and about who they are in Him, we can actually help people start to become more like Jesus, to start producing His spiritual characteristics.

The problem is that we often can't see past the basic "kit" in front of us. We look at our partner, our son or daughter, our mother or father, our fellow believer or co-worker, and all we can see is their "warts," their weaknesses, the things they need to improve. We're experts at seeing the flaws and areas for improvement in other people. Consequently, most of us have already had a lifetime's worth of criticism, put-downs, harshness.

But the eyes of Jesus don't just see what a person is - they see what that person could be - if someone would just water their potential with some encouragement and praise and believing in them. Jesus told Simon, "You are Simon, but you will be 'the rock.'" He saw what Simon could be - and, in fact, what He became in Jesus' amazing garden.

So, what you water will grow. People will become what you call them. And the people in your family, in your church, at the place where you work have so much beauty planted in them by our Creator. But somebody needs to believe in what they could be. So build them up - don't ever tear them down. Build their confidence, don't take it away. Load them up with praise - they don't need the growth-stunting effects of your negatives. You will be amazed at what can happen in the garden of lives around you if you will water them to bring out their latent beauty. In the words of my grandson, "They grow!"

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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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Dwight Moody was preaching when someone passed a note to him through the usher. It had only one word: "Fool." Moody looked at it and said, "I've often received notes that weren't signed. This is the first time I've received a note that someone forgot to write, but signed."

I'm looking out my window right now, and I can see everything clearly. But if I need to read these notes right in front of me, I would have to put my glasses on. Now, when I'm driving down the road later today, I won't need my glasses. I've got no problem seeing the road ahead, the cars around me, that roadkill I want to avoid. But if I need to pull over and look at my map, forget it - I'd better have my glasses or I'll never find that small town I'm looking for. I am, as they say, farsighted.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Seeing What's Far, Missing What's Close."

Farsighted - that means you can see what's far from you, but you've got a problem seeing what's right in front of you. It's a problem many people with perfect eyes have - when it comes to seeing the flaws and failures that are right in front of them.

Jesus talked about this spiritual farsightedness in our word for today from the Word of God. In Matthew 7, beginning with verse 1, Jesus says, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is a plank your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Well, Jesus is hitting hard at a tendency we all have - to see very clearly the mistakes and faults far away - in other people, that is - and to miss the mistakes and faults that are right in front of us - in ourselves. We are good at seeing the flaws in the person we're married to, in our children, in our parent, and being totally oblivious to the things we're doing wrong. We are quick to jump on the failings of a friend, or a coworker, or a supervisor, or a spiritual leader, and totally ignore where we're missing it.

Maybe, if you're honest with yourself, you'd have to admit that you've become a pretty critical person, quick to point out where the people around you are messing up. People feel judged, diminished, categorized, put down when they're around you. There are lots of reasons we're hard on other people. Sometimes, it's because we like to feel superior. Other times, it's because we feel inferior and we're trying to feel better at their expense. This "attacking the speck, missing the plank" thing can be because we tend to look for someone to blame ... because we want to excuse our failings by pointing out theirs ... because we actually see in them something that bugs us about ourselves.

Whatever the reason, Jesus really doesn't like it. He calls us to self-examination, to cleaning up your own yard, and to attacking the garbage in us. Yes, there will be times when God will use you to hold up a mirror for someone and help them deal with an issue. But because we're so aware of our own sinfulness, our own failings, we'll do it with humility, not arrogance - with gentleness, not harshness - reluctantly, not eagerly. It may be that you can think even now of someone who's felt the hurt or condemnation of your criticism. You could both experience some wonderful healing if you would tell them you're sorry and ask for their forgiveness.

If you're spiritually farsighted - you tend to see their faults, not yours. Let God give you His glasses to see the man or woman in the mirror. Getting you to be what Jesus wants you to be should be pretty much a full-time job!

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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. 'Practical Answers to Real Life Issues'

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It was a Saturday afternoon, and Ray had rushed down to the local supermarket to hurriedly pick up some hamburger rolls, chips and a few condiments. The big college game was going to be on, so he was having a few friends over to watch it.

The store was loaded with shoppers and as he headed for the six item express lane, the only one that didn't have a long line, a woman completely ignoring the overhead sign slipped into the check-out line just in front of him pushing a cart piled high with groceries.

Ray was quietly fuming at the anticipated delay. But the elderly cashier beckoned the woman to come forward, looked into the cart and asked ever so sweetly, “So Dearie, which six items would you like to buy?”

I was on a mission in England and Ireland, and I actually had a day to spend in the historic English city of York. What a place! It's surrounded by a medieval wall actually and it's dominated by a cathedral that might be second only to Westminster Abbey in London. There was an unusual scene out in front, because there was an artist on his knees, painstakingly working on a chalk drawing on the sidewalk in front of the cathedral. When I was closer and I looked at it, it was the Mona Lisa. It was immediately recognizable. He must have been working on it all day, and it was beautifully done. As I went inside a restaurant, I saw that the artist had left. Within minutes, a little boy came up, and he intentionally ran over the artwork, stomped back and forth and made footprints all over it. Other kids followed him. They did the same thing. They had just trampled all over the work of an artist who had worked very hard on it. It hurts to see someone doing that.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Trampling on a Masterpiece.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 4:29-30. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” God is saying don't tear down somebody with your words. Don't trample them with your words. Why does it bother Him so much? Why does it grieve and break the heart of the Holy Spirit of God?

You have to go back to Ephesians 2:10. It says, “We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which He prepared in advance for us to do.” God is working on this unique masterpiece creation in every person. He has a job for them to do. He's trying to build them up and help them know what that job is. In a world that tears down our worth so much, He's trying to get them to believe they are the workmanship He created in Christ Jesus. No matter how difficult that person may be, or how obscured the work of God might be, God is trying to finish a work of art in someone He created. That's why it hurts Him so much when we trample on one of those masterpieces in progress.

In angry, impatient or critical moments, have you maybe left some verbal footprints on your son or daughter? Social scientists tell us that our kids need seven positives to come back to zero after they have heard just one negative. We never forget the names that we're called by a parent, or things we are accused of by a parent. I'm sure you haven't forgotten. Every time you fired careless words at your husband or your wife when you're tired, or you want to win or you want to get your way, you've been ripping a person God is trying to build.

What about the attacks that the other person doesn't even hear? Maybe damaging words have been said at work, or at church, among friends, behind their back. You're still trampling on God's work, marking them up in the eyes of others. We don't usually do trampling with our feet; we do it with our mouth. I can still visualize those footprints on that artist's skillful work in front of the cathedral. It was ugly. It's ugly when you do it to somebody else with your mouth.

Maybe it's time you did something about the footprints you have left on a masterpiece of God. Maybe it's time you go back and make it right, and make a commitment to not ever again let your mouth mark up the artwork of God.

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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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Chasing donkeys is a trivial pursuit. King Saul was the first notable donkey chaser. Scripture (1 Samuel 9:2) describes Saul as “an impressive young man,” with “no one more impressive among the Israelites than he.” The following verse, however, is a jarring contrast. “Take one of the attendants with you and go look for the donkeys,” his father told him.

Granted, Saul was not yet anointed king of Israel at the time, but it was ironic foreshadowing. Scripture says he was “hiding among the supplies” (1 Samuel 10:22) when it was time for his introduction by Samuel. As king, Saul spent inordinate amounts of time chasing David around the countryside trying to kill him. David recognized the indignity of it. “Who has the king of Israel come after?” David asks in 1 Samuel 24:14, “What are you chasing after? A dead dog? A flea?”

Saul was described as a man above men, kingly in appearance, friends with Samuel the great prophet. He was adorned with all the garments of royalty. He had a crown, a throne and a scepter. He had an army at his command. This man who had a date with destiny was detoured in his life chasing displaced donkeys.

Unfortunately, far too many of us in the evangelical church today are out chasing donkeys, as well.

It is much too easy to stand and take potshots at all that is wrong with churches and denominations -- to be a naysayer. Reams are written about how we aren’t doing this or that. This is not a column meant to bash all things evangelical. I pray it is a contribution to a growing cry for the church to wake up! It is an emergency call for a sense of urgency.

Two years ago I opened a series of columns with a quote by Anglican priest David Watson. Nearly 25 years ago he wrote, “It is widely held that the battle of the century will be between Marxism, Islam, and Third World Christianity. Western Christianity is considered too weak and ineffective to contribute anything significant to this universal struggle.” I commented at the time that Watson’s statement is a sobering accusation that I’ve been unable to discredit in the years since.

John Burke, pastor of Gateway Community Church in Austin, Texas, recently published a book titled, “No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a Come as You Are Culture in the Church.” Burke opens the first chapter of the book by asking what a Buddhist, a biker couple, a homosexual activist, a transient, an engineer, a Jew and a Muslim all have in common. His answer: They are the future church in America.

He says that each of these now have a relationship with Christ and are members in his church and he says, “this is the generation the church must reach if it is to survive.” He then states, “But time is running out. Unless Christians leading the church in America change, and unless the church begins living out the magnetic attractive force Jesus had on the world, the Christian Church in America will be completely marginalized within decades.”

Certain voices rise above the critical rhetoric of evaluating Western Christianity to become prophetic. I believe Watson and Burke are essentially issuing the same warning to the church. Burke’s assessment confirms Watson’s observation made 25 years earlier.

Here’s the thing that concerns me: NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE ARE LISTENING! We are a complacent and arrogant people. Isaiah is replete with examples of God humbling the haughty. Arrogance followed by judgment is a recurring theme; survey the Old Testament and confirm it for yourself. However, before dismissing those examples as ancient history, flip to Revelation and read Christ’s seven letters to the churches. More specifically, read what Jesus says to the church of Sardis: “I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Be alert and strengthen what remains, which is about to die ...” (Revelation 3:1-2).

Sobering, or at least it should be. Our response as individuals, churches and denominations should be to immediately beg God to forgive our arrogance and ask to see the world through His eyes. Then, with obedience, to then do something about what we see.

Paul cautions in Ephesians 5:15-16 to “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk ... making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” If we are going to walk as wise men and women we must engage our world with urgent relevance. If not I fear God may ask, “Are you chasing donkeys?”

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Rev. Bruce Dunn has a preacher friend in Toronto who kept a scrapbook about wayward preachers. The news clippings and pictures about any preacher who went astray was filed in his scrapbook under the various categories of Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, etc.

When someone came up to him as they often did and someone said to him that he read about some straying preacher, he would say, “Do you have a few minutes? Come into my study.” Then he would pull down his scrapbook and say, “What is your denomination?” The man would say, “Well, I’m a Methodist.” “Oh, let’s turn over to the Methodist section here.” Then he would read them about what some straying Methodist ministers had done.

The Bible says, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!” (1 Cor. 10:12).

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I have a friend who teaches special education at an elementary school. She has encountered a problem common to any classroom or family in which there is more than one child: the children want to constantly tattle on each other. As humans, we are far more sensitive and cognizant of the wrongdoing of others than we are of our own. And children who may bend the rules for themselves and press every boundary laid for them often want their peers to be strictly judged by the letter of the law.

To cut down on tattling, my friend devised an ingenious solution. Rather than allow the children to verbally complain throughout the day, she instructed them to fill out a “tattle form,” a detailed questionnaire, if they wish to report the offenses of their classmates. Her hope was that the time and trouble it takes to fill out the form would make them less quick to tell on minor infractions.

To her surprise, she found the children quite ready to complete the forms, and over the course of several days a stack of tattle forms will accrue for her attention. But the tattle-form policy has nevertheless had a very positive effect on the classroom environment. Because she gives diligent attention to each complaint registered, administering discipline when necessary, and, when it isn't, signing the form to show that she has looked into the matter, the children's craving for justice is satisfied. The process confers the fundamental dignity of being heard even upon those whose plea is ultimately rejected.

You may have noticed that the writers of the Psalms do a fair amount of tattling themselves. The psalmists are always being confronted by enemies, wicked men who wish them harm, who often seem to prosper. Complaints such as this one from Psalm 56 are typical:

“All day long they twist my words;

they are always plotting to harm me.

They conspire, they lurk,

they watch my steps, eager to take my life.

On no account let them escape;

in your anger, O God, bring down the nations” (Psalm 56:5-7).

Just as it offends a child's sense of justice when his classmate wrongs him, we are often confused and dismayed when those who run after evil seem to prosper. Why does God allow others to injure us? Why doesn't He protect his own from harm? These are good questions. The psalms were written several thousand years ago, and we are still wondering about the same things. Our enemies may not often hunt us down to physically harm us, but many times we face the same feeling of being pursued by evil.

In Psalm 109, David calls upon God to bring about justice:

“O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent,

for wicked and deceitful men have opened their mouths against me;

they have spoken against me with lying tongues.

With words of hatred they surround me;

they attack me without cause” (Psalm 109:1-3).

This psalm, like the others, does not answer the question of why the wicked have not been brought to justice. But after David has poured out his heart to the Lord, he is able to give Him thanks and praise:

“With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;

in the great throng I will praise him.

For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,

to save his life from those who condemn him” (Psalm 109:30-31).

You see, God doesn't always answer the “why” questions in this life. But when we bring our concerns before Him, we can rest assured that our grievances have been heard by a just God. Just as the child feels secure when his teacher has taken full notice of the grievance troubling him, we can be comforted that God is attentive to our plight. Charles Spurgeon put it this way, “Because God is the living God, He can hear; because He is a loving God, He will hear; because He is our covenant God, He has bound Himself to hear us.” We can rest in the knowledge that, though the wicked may prosper now, their fate and ours lie in the hands of the God who hears.

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Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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Ye are taken up in the lips of talkers. — Ezekiel 36:3.

In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. — Proverbs 14:23.

Responding to criticism of his methods from a group more concerned with theory than with getting the job done D. L. Moody remarked of that group and their criticism, “When all’s said and done, more is said than done.”

Oh, how many a glorious record

Had the angels of me kept,

Had I done instead of spoken:

Had I warred instead of slept. — alt.

During the filming of the classic 1958 western, Big Country, one of the actors, Charlton Heston, thought he could help the director by improving the dialogue in one scene...

During a break he walked over to William Wyler, the director, and picked up Wyler’s copy of the script. When he did this the leather flyleaf opened and Heston saw stamped in small letters the titles of many of Wyler’s most famous films. Seeing that list reminded the actor of the genius and ability of this director whose judgment he was thinking he could improve. Heston put the script down, and as he turned to walk away he said, “Forget it, I agree with you.”

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Source: KneEmail

Describing a small group of vocal critics, Matt Salmon said, “When I was a little kid, I was really into western movies. In one of those, the cavalry was outmanned by attacking Indians, so they put a bunch of branches on the backs of horses, who then kicked up a lot of dust to make it look like there were a lot more people than there were. These guys drag around a lot of branches and kick up a lot of dust.”

What would cause a superb Major League Baseball player to walk away from the game — and a big pile of money? God only knows.

In March [2016], Major League Baseball player Adam LaRoche shocked the sports world. LaRoche, a 12-year veteran who averaged more than 20 home runs a year and won many awards for his defensive skills at first base, unexpectedly retired.

By doing so, he walked away from $13 million — the amount left on the final year of a two-year contract with the Chicago White Sox.

Even more shocking than leaving $13 million on the table was the reason he did so: The White Sox had informed LaRoche that his 14-year-old son, Drake, could no longer accompany him in the club house every day.

If you can’t imagine walking away from that kind of money for that kind of reason, you’re not alone.

But then again, a lot of what LaRoche does is peculiar, and I mean that in the best possible way.

It’s fair to say that most of those who commented on his decision, which in the age of social media means practically everyone with access to the Internet, were critical of LaRoche’s decision to put his ideas about being a good father ahead of his team and his teammates.

Not that it matters to LaRoche. He told ABC news that “I have zero regrets.” While he admitted to being angry with the White Sox at first, he added that their actions made his decision to retire easier. As he put it, “I don’t want to be defined by this game. I know there’s a lot more to life.”

Well, this understanding that there’s a lot more to life is why Tim Keown of ESPN wrote in his profile of LaRoche, “You need to forget everything you think you know about professional athletes. Adam LaRoche is different.”

Part of the difference, as LaRoche’s comments suggest, is that he’s not consumed by the sport, despite being the son of one major leaguer and the brother of another. He has other interests, chief among them his Christian faith and his family. It’s why Drake, who attends regular school in the off-season and is home-schooled in the spring quarter, accompanied his dad to the ballpark every day.

It’s why, when LaRoche played for the Washington Nationals and the Chicago White Sox, he and other teammates sponsored “Faith Days” in 2014 and 2015.

And most of all, it’s why LaRoche and Milwaukee Brewers’ pitcher Blaine Boyer spent ten days last November working undercover in Southeast Asian brothels trying to rescue underage sex slaves.

Yes, you heard me right. LaRoche and Boyer, working with a group called Exodus Road and at great personal risk, used a hidden camera to identify trafficked girls — known only by a number pinned to their bikinis — and also their bosses.

As Boyer told Keown, “Something huge happened there for us ... Adam and I truly believe God brought us there and said, ‘This is what I have for you boys.’” On the flight home LaRoche turned to Boyer and said, “What are we doing? We’re going back to play a game for the next eight months?”

Upon his return from Asia, LaRoche was haunted by what he had seen and by the fact that it was going on while he lay safely in his bed.

Keown writes of LaRoche’s “nearly cinematic level of nonconformity” to people’s expectations of what an athlete should be. But a better description would be “peculiar.” Peculiar in the biblical sense of being “a peculiar people.” The Greek word translated “peculiar” means “costly” and “treasured,” but because our treasure is found in different places than the rest of the world, Christian are to be “peculiar” in the more typical sense of being “different,” maybe even considered “weird.”

LaRoche’s confidence to be peculiar, even at the cost of $13 million, comes from the fact that there’s a lot more to life than the world would have us believe, but that God is waiting to show to us — maybe through a peculiar ball player.

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Copyright (c) 2016 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

Opinion columnists, like the rest of humanity, walk a fine line between judgment (holding people accountable to a standard we did not create) and judgmentalism (thinking ourselves morally superior because we haven’t committed the acts of others).

Since writing of my friendship with the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, I have been flooded with responses. Some have been kind, but many — perhaps a majority — have heaped on me the revulsion the writers also heaped on Mr. Kennedy. Perhaps the unkindest cut of all was the writer who accused me of “going wobbly.”

That many on the left continue to dance on the grave of Richard M. Nixon and to revile George W. Bush does not give the right permission to engage in eye-for-an-eye behavior. Many on the right invoke the name of Jesus on Sunday and tear down a politician whose policies they don’t like the rest of the week.

Tearing down policy is fine, but diminishing the value of a fellow human being simply because you don’t like his politics (or his personal behavior) is not a good strategy for persuading him to change. It also raises the level of invectiveness, which is injurious not only to our politics, but to the one contributing the invectiveness.

What am I trying to accomplish when I engage in criticism? Do I want to present superior arguments I hope my political opponent will at least consider, if not adopt, or is my objective simply to make me feel better by engaging in moral superiority? If it’s the latter, I am committing the sin of pride, which goes before all the others.

Mr. Kennedy’s list of sins is well known, from sexual promiscuity to offering help to Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov in exchange for Mr. Andropov’s assistance in defeating Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential election. The latter act is properly criticized, even denounced. Discussion of the former can easily fall into the judgmental category.

Public exposure of private sins reminds us of our own coverups. Each of us is capable of doing what Mr. Kennedy did, given the right circumstances and opportunity. This doesn’t excuse his actions. It does explain them.

This was the great offense laid on Jesus of Nazareth, whose name was invoked on several occasions at the Kennedy funeral and burial. Those who hated and rejected Jesus did so because He exposed what was in them, and no one likes his dark soul exposed to the light. It is one reason some of us wear makeup and nice clothes and blow-dry our hair and why others consider plastic surgery as they age. If we seek to cover external flaws in these ways, how much more would we undertake to hide the internal ones? Vanity, vanity; all is vanity.

This is not to absolve Mr. Kennedy of his sins, only to say that we are neither the judge nor the one who can absolve. We can’t forgive ourselves, or, as I put it to a TV interviewer who asked me: “Bottom line: Senator Kennedy, a good man?”

“Only God is good,” I responded. “The rest of us are sinners.”

It is not hypocritical to care for someone who behaves badly. In fact, it is the height of love to do so because you want him to have a changed life and attitude that will help him behave better for his own sake and that of his family. Denouncing that person and condemning him to hell is not likely to make him more open to things that will lead him in the other direction. Who among us has lived a perfect life that would be acceptable to God?

Twila Paris wrote a song that might speak even to hard hearts when they think of the One who forgave their own sins and who was never accused of going wobbly: “How beautiful the tender eyes that choose to forgive and never despise.”

I strongly opposed much of what Mr. Kennedy proposed, but I cared for him as a person. Those without sin, send your condemnation stones to this newspaper.

Arthur Flake outlined a simple plan for growing an ongoing Bible study ministry, which he called Sunday School. That plan came to be known as Flake’s Formula and included these elements: Know the possibilities, Expand the organization, Enlist and train leaders, Provide resources, and Go after the people. In his notes, Flake identified two objections he expected to hear from his critics: It won’t work here and We tried that. Most leaders have encountered these same two, tiring objections at some point in their lives.

In Numbers 20, we find Moses yet again being badgered by the Hebrews. He was grieving the death of his sister -- the person who watched him float in a basket as a baby before being rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter -- but his grief did not deter his critics. Moses and the Hebrews were in Kadesh and in need of water -- again. One might think by now the Hebrews would have known God would provide, but that does not appear to be the case. Instead they bring their complaints to Moses with accusations and regrets. Moses and Aaron put their personal grief aside and humbly approached God. God showed up and gave them a plan of action without them even asking. Problem solved.

Our only refuge is going to God and seeing His counsel. Once He provides us with that counsel, we then can act with confidence. Unfortunately, Moses and Aaron did everything right, except follow to the letter what God told them to do. They struck the rock just as they had done in the past, but God had told them to speak to the rock.

Criticism can wear on the strongest of people, especially when they are dealing with a personal loss. We can know that even in the most difficult of circumstances and when facing our harshest critics, we can depend upon God to identify our next steps. Our responsibility is to obey, following exactly what He directs us to do.

Discussion Questions:

What does the way a leader responds to criticism reveal about his or her character?

How can a believer deal with criticism in a God-honoring way?