Deuteronomy 7: 22 “And the Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little.” Another translation is that God will lead and provide for us “step by step.”  There is a foundational principle of Christian leadership for a man here as he leads his life, family and work.  Yes, God gives us a promise and vision of where He wants us to go just as He did in our verse this week given to the Children of Israel.  However, He does not give us the whole destination and promise up front.  He requires that we trust Him to lead us step by step.  What would we do if God revealed the whole journey or provision up front?  It might be like a football team that was told upfront that they already have a victory at the end of the game.  Do you think the players would put forth the same effort, pay as much attention to the coaches, execute the play book and keep the same focus?  The answer is “no.”  Look at the reason God leads us step by step in the next chapter of Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 8: 14 “Then your heart would become proud and you would forget the Lord your God.”  In spiritual leadership, we must remain humble and dependent on God or we will become proud and think that we can do it all by ourselves.  We will forget that God is our leader and provider.  Pride would become the nemesis again.  A man must be patient and continue to ask God about the next steps to be taken.  He must thank Him for each step along the way and to acknowledge that it is God Who is leading.  This applies to a man leading his family and at work.

We should all have a vision and goals for our lives, families and work.  I do not believe in 10 to 20 year goals.  They are too far in the future and we live in the present and circumstances do change.  I once worked for a Christian man who stated that he had a simple vision and goal in life and it was this, “Don’t screw up.”  If we personally mess up, it will impact the lives of those whom God has given us the responsibility to lead.  As long as we don’t forget God, keep His Word, follow the Holy Spirit and not become proud, we will succeed and lead effectively “step by step” to reach our goals and destination.