Is God the ultimate source of your confidence? (161-1)
A wise leader trusts God even when their heart is inclined to do something contrary to God’s revealed will. Read Jeremiah 17:5-10.
Jeremiah draws a sharp contrast between those who depend on human strength and those who depend on God. A leader who is detached from God is in danger, but one who trusts Him will have the elements essential for His blessing. Jeremiah makes it clear that leaders cannot look to both human strength and dependence on God as their supreme basis for trust. Leaders will either ultimately put their hope in the promises and power of people, or they will look beyond human capability to the person and promises of God.
Why does it seem every leader has times when they drift away from trusting God and begin to depend on self? If every day contained a major crisis that was obviously beyond a leader’s ability or control, trusting God may be natural but the daily grind of leadership has a leader facing deadlines, financial pressure, personnel issues, and a dozen other normal elements of leadership that a leader becomes proficient at managing. It tends to be the hundreds of decisions a leader makes each week that moves them an inch at a time to trusting their own ability verses living in total dependence on God.
There is a tricky balance between functioning as a God-honoring, self-confident leader and becoming a self-absorbed leader that usurps the role of God. The leaders condemned by Jeremiah never gave God a thought. God created leaders in His image, gave them a brain, and expects them to function with independence and confidence but He does authorize arrogance that denies dependence on Him for daily guidance of their heart and attitude.
Even for the self-absorbed leader, some activities may seem to prosper for a season, but somewhere in the journey they will breakdown and not get them to the desired goal. We were designed by God for God and anything thing a leader does to isolate themselves from God will end in bitterness and disappointment. Wise leaders make God the ultimate source of their confidence even when their heart is inclined to depend on their own strength.
1 Samuel 2:30 “…Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise Me will be disdained.”
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