3 simple reminders that leadership isn't about you, it’s about God
By Karina Bruffell
For the last few months I have been working my way through the books of Samuel. It has been interesting to look more deeply into the lives of Samuel, Saul and David than I have done previously, and have found their life experiences, decisions they’ve made and their attitudes to be challenging and instructive for my own leadership.
Today as I was reading through 2 Samuel 15, I couldn’t help but find some awesome leadership lessons tucked away.
Chapter 15 is set after the prophet Nathan has prophesised to David about the troubles he will have with his family due to his sin with Bathsheba. It is also after his son Absalom has be exiled due to killing his older brother for violating their sister. Absalom is brought home, and after 2 years, David forgives and reconciles with him, but he avoids calling Absalom to justice and repentance.
The chapter reveals how Absalom conspires against David and gathers support to overthrow David as king, and David’s reaction. Here are three lessons we can learn as leaders from this story:
1. Don’t conspire against God’s appointed leader.
Sometimes it’s easy to think we could lead better than someone else.
We may think they make poor decisions or they are not the best person for the job. We may think we or another person would do it better, and in our divisive state, we begin to complain and sow seeds of discontent. We gather support and find other likeminded people, until many around us begin to feel discontentment and disillusionment.
We may not be vying to replace the leader as Absalom did, but in essence, we have the same heart attitude.
When God places a person in leadership, unless they are clearly out of alignment with God or there is an issue of sin, we need to honour them with our words and recognise them as God’s anointed one.
If they are in the wrong, God will deal with it and remove them, it is not up to us to do this without God’s authorisation. Let us not be like Absalom and allow conspiracy among us grow strong. Let us instead support and encourage one another.
2. Our sin has wide ranging consequences beyond what we can imagine.
In 15: 12 it tells us “…Absalom…sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor…And the conspiracy grew strong, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.”
What it doesn’t tell us is that Ahithopel was Bathsheba’s grandfather. He was also one of David’s wise and respected counselors, and a trusted friend. Yet, he betrayed David and secretly aligned himself with Absalom.
Why would he do that?
It is thought that one of the reasons could be that it was in retaliation against David for his treatment of Uriah and Bathsheba.
I don’t know about you, but that was a sobering thought for me! It’s easy to think through the immediate consequences of our sin and how it effects those around us. But sin has a way of following us, even years later, even after we have repented and received forgiveness. It destroys relationships, sometimes beyond repair.
Not everyone is going to be quick to forgive, and while we can’t take responsibility for that, we can make wise choices to avoid that situation in the first place.
3. We have no exclusive claim on our leadership.
David, once he is aware of Absalom’s betrayal, says in 15: 26, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. But if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.”
David here confesses he has no exclusive claim to the throne, that God is free to confer the kingship on whomever he chooses.
In the same way, we have no exclusive claim on our leadership positions and God is free to confer our leadership positions on whomever He chooses.
Let us not hold so tightly to what God has called us to, that we miss when He may want to move us on or raise another up. Let us be obedient to when and where God has called us, serving faithfully in all we do, while being aware of God’s season and timing.