Are you constantly seeking the Lord’s direction for your leadership? (91-3)
Christian leaders should constantly be asking, “What does God say?” Read 2 Samuel 5:17-25.
Leaders constantly seek to know what resources they have available. They are constantly searching for and trying to attract competent people. They set target dates and check points, establish lines of communication, determine the evaluation process, create budgets and timelines and the list goes on and on. Every one of these activities is critical to effective leadership. Too often, however, even godly Christian leaders forget to ask, “What does God say?” David discovered the importance of this question when the Philistine army massed to challenge his right to rule as the new king over all of Israel.
A little background, the nation of Philistia was made up of a number of city states ruled by local leaders but they were united by a national allegiance to a king. We see this at work in 1 Samuel 27 when David, who was on the run from Saul, lived peacefully in a Philistine city state ruled by Achish but in 1 Samuel 29 when the entire Philistine nation massed an army and Achish invited David to be part of his army, “the princes of the Philistines” rejected David’s participation. National leaders could overrule local leaders.
It was to the national advantage of the Philistines to keep Israel’s leadership fragmented and they did not want David as a national king of Israel. Without a central army powerful enough to challenge their raiding parties, the Philistine city rulers had free reign to tax and/or take whatever they wanted from Israel’s border towns and local farmers.
The Philistines massed a national army to challenge David’s right to rule in Israel. To meet the challenge David massed a national army in Israel. David’s army may have been a worthy adversary to any individual Philistine city leader but not their national force and David knew it. When the Philistine army massed, David immediately went to the Lord to see if he should fight, flee or negotiate. The Lord gave David a battle plan and assurance of victory.
When the Philistine army massed a second time (probably a year or more later) David did not assume that the Lord’s instructions were once for all time and he went back to again request direction from God. Ironically God gave the same go ahead but a different battle plan.
How are you doing seeking the Lord’s direction for your leadership? Did you receive direction once and made an assumption that this directive was for all time or do you go back for new direction for new challenges even when the circumstances appear similar to when you first received direction?
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