Can a Strong Leader Be Humble?

The election is coming up. Let's talk about candidates. Do you think our country would rather elect a strong, dynamic, powerful, and effective leader…or a humble one? Dumb question? Perhaps so…perhaps not. Strong, dynamic, powerful, effective…all would agree these are appropriate qualities of a competent leader. Humble? Most consider this a quality of a doormat…not a leader.

The first reference to 'humble' in the Bible is in an account of the most powerful leader in the world at the time-Pharaoh, King of Egypt:

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. (Exodus 10:3 NIV)

The first time 'humble' appears in the Bible, it is a quality that the world's most powerful leader does not possess. So…if the answer to the opening question above is that our country would rather have a strong, dynamic, powerful and effective leader over a humble one, we would have been quite at home in ancient Egypt. We could also make the point that, so far in the Bible, the odds are 0-for-1 that a strong leader is humble.

Is humble an unsuitable…even contradictory…quality for an effective leader? Let's proceed to the second mention of 'humble' in the Bible:

(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) (Numbers 12:3 NIV)

In the second reference the odds of a strong leader being humble changed from 0-for-1 to 1-for-2. Interestingly, the first two men in the Bible whose names were associated with humility would not only be a study of contrasts regarding humility, they would also be adversaries as leaders of two nations involved in one of history's most significant conflicts. Moses was the leader of the nation of Israel, which had been in bondage as slaves to the nation of Egypt-Pharaoh's kingdom-for 200 years.

Moses was no doubt listed as a longshot for being the victorious leader in the impending conflict. Other than sheer numbers (approximately 3,000,000 Jews), Moses had little going for him…except the object of his humility.

"Object?" you ask? Yes, object. Most of the time, when we think of humble, we consider it to be the self-deprecating position we assume toward others, allowing them to walk all over us. That, however, is not the quality Pharaoh lacked, nor is it the quality Moses possessed. The quality Pharaoh did not have…the one he refused…was humility before God. By contrast, Moses did have it and the object of his humility was God. So, what was the outcome?

As you probably know, Pharaoh…the leader whose refused to be humble…and his entire army were completely annihilated; not one survived. Moses had a tough army, right? The Original Mother of all Desert Storm Victories? Not quite. The Israelites didn't even chunk a single desert rock at the Egyptian army. So how did they claim victory? They were lead by a man who humbled himself before God; God took care of the Egyptians. Moses' humility was not a liability to his leadership; it was the cause of his success.

"Great for a Bible story," some may say, "but would this apply to our nation?" I prefer to let a notable American comment, but not just on the need for our leader to be humble before God:

Without a humble imitation of the divine author of our blessed religion,

we can never hope to be a happy nation. -George Washington

God speaks to the individual need for each of us to be humble before Him…

Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:2 NIV)

…as well as the corporate need of the people:

(2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV) if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Not only is humility an essential quality for a competent leader, only time will tell us whether the previous verse is true…that humility before God is the essential quality for a nation that hopes to remain strong.