Lessons on Leadership

Lessons on Leadership

A few summers ago, I worked at a golf course. This secular job gave me a great opportunity to gain life skills, as well as build relationships outside the Christian bubble. One of the unique aspects of this summer job was the leadership. I had one boss who was a kind, Pentecostal Christian man, and I had another boss who was a cocky, foul mouthed young man. Have you ever had a bad boss? Think back to his leadership flaws. What made him a bad leader? It is often easy to notice leadership flaws or faults. We are naturally wired to notice faults, or things we don’t like, in a leader. Now, have you ever had a good leader? What made that person a good leader? Noticing positive leadership characteristics is a worthwhile endeavor because God has given each of us differing levels of leadership. Men specifically have unique, God-given leadership authority. Who is a Historical or Biblical man you think of as a good leader? One of my favorite leaders from the Bible is King David. I love David because from his life, we can see both how to do leadership, and how not to do leadership. For today’s consideration, we will look at positive attributes of David’s leadership.

First, good leaders seek justice. 2 Samuel opens with the death of Saul and the transition of kingship from Saul to David. David now is in a unique new leadership role as king of Israel. The opening narrative tells of a man who informed David of Saul and Jonathan‘s death. The messenger lies to David and claims he was the one that killed Saul in his last minutes. David then takes leadership and responsibility by the reins and demands this man be killed (2 Samuel 1:16). David shows just leadership in this instance because he did what he understood was right regardless of his feelings toward Saul. It would have been easy for David to be blinded by the years of persecution and hardened by the attempts on his own life by Saul. But when David was in a position of leadership he wasn’t gratified by the death of his enemy. Rather, he was saddened by the death of God’s anointed. David killed this lying Amalekite because killing the King was wrong no matter the circumstance (even though this man was lying), and because God has already commanded the total slaughter of the Amalekites (1 Sam. 15). This commitment to justice is a good characteristic of leadership for any leader in any position. Leaders must not pervert justice to propagate their personal vendettas or subvert justice when it is the hard thing to do. David evidently portrayed just leadership.

Second, good leaders seek God’s presence. Recently, our country elected a new leader. As soon as President Trump was in office, he issued a series of Executive Orders. These all were tasks he felt most needful in his first few weeks as new leader, as David did when he became leader of Israel. In 2 Samuel 6:2, David had just finished defeating the Philistines and reclaimed the Ark of the Covenant. One could say that David’s executive order was to reclaim the Ark of the Covenant because he recognized the importance of God’s presence. Notice also, at the beginning of 2 Samuel 2, David purposefully sought God’s guidance. “And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up

into any of the cities of Judah?” David may have failed as a leader when he personally drew himself away from the presence of God or failed to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant, but David continually sought the presence of the Lord, and this is why he saw much success. Good leaders will actively seek God’s presence in their lives. This desire for the presence of God only comes from a serious introspection of self, which often results in a good kind of dependence. Good leaders will recognize their weaknesses and God’s strength. David certainly exemplified good leadership as he often sought God’s presence, and so should we.

There is more that could be said about David and leadership, but this will be enough for our consideration today. All of us are in varying positions of leadership. Men especially need to aspire to be good leaders. America needs political leaders who seek Him in a real way and lead accordingly. Churches need leaders who follow Scripture’s pattern for leadership. And families need men who follow the biblical blueprint for leadership. May all of us take these truths from the life of David to aid us in our pursuit of being leaders after God’s own heart.

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The above article was written by Andrew Johnson. He is on part-time staff at NorthStone Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fl. To offer him your feedback, comment below or email us at strengthforlife461@gmail.com.

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