How God Uses Leaders
“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” 1 Timothy 2:1-2
A Christian believes God is the Ultimate Leader, the One Who allows all leaders on earth, good and bad, and chooses His own leaders for His purposes and plans. Understanding our role in God’s leadership structure will help us to be the best leaders we can be.
History is filled with evil leaders. These are people in positions of leadership who misused or abused their power to lead people astray, for their own personal gain, or for destruction as sport. Think about people like Nero, Stalin, Hitler, Hussein, Bin Laden. In the Garden of Eden the world went astray with Adam and Eve. We live on a sin-filled planet, and these evil people are a result of our collective fall into sin. We need to realize that God allows these people to exist and at times allows their evil to flourish.
In fact, at times we see God actually using evil men for His own purposes. In the book of Exodus God “hardened Pharoah’s heart”, and Pharoah continually denied Moses’ pleas to release the nation of Israel from slavery. In the end God destroyed Pharoah and his army as Moses led Israel across the parted Red Sea. So Pharoah’s stubbornness and refusal to submit to God’s authority eventually led to God showing His authority over Pharoah to everyone.
There have been some good leaders as well. Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr. We know the names of those who made the right decision at the right time. There are those that we can admire and hold up as leaders who put others before themselves, and who ultimately made a positive difference or helped bring about profound change in their time. God certainly used some of these leaders, while others seem to have been successful in leading despite living a life weak in faith.
God’s chosen leaders are, well… flawed. If we want to look at the way God chooses leaders as a mark to emulate in our own leadership development, we’ll be at a loss to come up with His criteria. Moses? Stutterer. The Apostle Paul? Radical killer of Christians. Jacob? Liar and thief. King David? Murderer and adulterer. By today’s standards none of these men would qualify for leadership roles. They’d likely never make it out of social media purgatory.
When we think of what makes a great leader today, we might think of their character. Are they honest, transparent, forthright? Do they motivate others? Do the communicate well and treat others with respect? What about their Tweets from 10 years ago, or did they say anything controversial as an elementary school student?
And in terms of vision… God doesn’t particularly help with that either. In the Bible we often see God choosing a leader, and then only telling him the very next thing to do. Almost never does God’s leader know the whole plan. God also doesn’t ask His chosen leader’s followers for their opinion. There was no CEO selection committee with Israel in Egypt, where they gave God a list of leading criteria from which to choose a suitable chief executive. God chose His man, and then told him very, very little. Take this stick, go to Pharoah, say this. Then see what happens.
The thing God’s leaders have in common. God does something amazing through His chosen leaders. He parts the Red Sea. He saved one family when He flooded the earth. He built a nation from an elderly man. Extraordinary feats that happened when God’s leaders—flawed as they were and without a road map for their leadership—simply trusted Him. When God’s leaders are humble and submissive to God, then God blesses them and uses them. As a leader follows God, he will lead his followers to follow God. God’s leaders do exceedingly well—as long as they are following God.
Be willing to listen and obey. A godly leader isn’t necessarily the most qualified or the one with the highest character (although these things don’t hurt). Rather a godly leader is one who simply listens to and obeys God—and leads others to do the same. This is the opposite of corporate leadership, where we tend to appoint leaders by knowledge, experience and their quotient of risk taking. In God’s leadership circle, however, He is looking for people willing to trust Him at those key leadership moments, so that He can do His desired work through them. If you want to lead like God’s leaders, the real question is, how much do you trust God?