Today’s Reading Judges 10-12
Focal Scripture: Judges 10:14 “Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them deliver you whenever you are oppressed.” The rulers of Gilead said to one another, “Which man will begin the fight against the Ammonites? He will be the leader of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
How a person leads tells you a lot about their character. Here Israel is going through many judges. Most of them do not live long after they become a judge. Some judges however do lead for a while. This books demonstrates that as the judges go on through time they continually become more wicked.
The strange part about this comes from the fact that even though they are wicked God is still using them to deliver Israel and give them success as a nation. Even though they have terrible character. It appears from the scripture that nobody is addressing these leaders.
The application of this passage today is a sobering one. What type of leader are you? As we have seen through the book of Judges you can have success and be weak in character. You can accomplish great things and be a terrible leader.
The point is this, God will accomplish his purpose through a good leader or a bad leader. So what type of leader are you?
Over the course of my life I have had good leaders and terrible leaders. The good leaders were those who were confident in who they were and who God made them to be. They trusted the people they hired to do their jobs and allowed for the flow of ideas. Even when they didn’t make sense. They also treated their people with respect and loved everyone, even the most difficult.
The bad leaders always tried to control every situation. It created a hostile work environment and crushed any sense of creativity or individuality. These leaders were often demeaning, condescending, and controlling. Sometimes these leaders would have success for a few years in their position. However, at some point when things turned a direction they didn’t count on the journey was quickly over. The bad leadership was only tolerated when things were going well. When it was over it crashed and crashed hard.
All of this is being said to challenge you if you are in leadership. Don’t equate good leadership with success and don’t equate bad leadership with failure. Good leaders take every situation, even failure and use it for good. Good leaders build others up and don’t tear others down.
So what type of leader are you? Will you be remembered like many of the judges? Some success for a season but treat family, workers and others horribly. Or will you be a leader who leads people and leads them like Jesus.
How will you be remembered?
Tomorrow I plan on reading Judges 13-15
