Today’s Reading, Psalms 74-77
Focal Scripture: Psalms 76:12 “He humbles the spirit of leaders; he is feared by the kings of the earth.”
Knowing your place as a leader is very important. Far too often leaders believe that the people or the organization they lead exists to serve them. When in reality as a leader they exist to serve the people and the organization. Too often leaders have the mindset that they are the ones in charge. That the buck stops with them and everything has to be ran through them as a leader. They believe in the idea that they are not accountable and they answer to nobody.
In today’s reading we see how that thinking is turned around and confronted directly. David says that the Lord humbles the spirit of leaders. This means that an arrogant leader has an aurora that turns people off. They have a spirit where they believe they are always right and they are the final say in situations. David says that these type of people will be humbled. Then we see that the Kings of the Earth will fear the Lord. This is a big statement. Kings in biblical times did have all authority in their kingdom. They had no reason to fear anyone or anything. Yet we see here that these kings will fear the Lord. They understand that there is someone greater than them.
The application today goes directly to leaders. Which is some sense applies to everyone. However, in our application today it will address leaders in the church/christian setting. In my time working and serving in churches I have witnessed great leaders and I have witnessed terrible leaders. The great leaders were humble, never spoke bad of any person, were people of prayer and had a biblical fear of the Lord. They allowed others to lead in their giftedness and never ruled with my way or else mentality.
Then I have witnessed a “leader” who was not humble. Believed they had to approve every decision. Gossiped about people behind closed doors and treated these same people differently publicly to get an advantage in leadership. Publicly behaving in ways that ruined his reputation and the cause of Christ. This “leader” blamed everyone else for the problems they experienced and in the church.
I want to make this statement. Many people who serve in the church have a great heart and desire to serve because it is their calling. However, we have to be aware that bad leaders exist. We see almost daily that these bad leaders will be humbled and humbled publicly. Make no doubt that bad leaders are everywhere. Not just the leaders in the pulpit but the ones who allow sin and bad leadership to continue.
Leadership is not easy and in my time I have only experienced bad leadership a few times. When it happens though I have seen that nobody wants to deal with the problem. What they miss is that the Lord will humble everyone and bring fear upon these bad leaders.
God cares about leadership and leaders. He also cares about how people lead. All of us will be judged and humbled as leaders. We will all stand before the righteous king. So today examine how you lead and who is leading you. Bad leadership will be dealt with in God’s house. Both by the one who leads with arrogance and the ones who allow it to happen.
Tomorrow, I plan on reading Psalms 78-79
