Dec
23
Humble Leader
Filed Under Devotional
I believe I am witnessing the age of entitlements come home to roost. Government is famous for promising something now for a vague cost later. Since the cost is always underestimated and distant, it’s an easy sell for those who are about to receive the handout. Then, when political parties figured out that setting up an entitlement for a powerful lobby or minority can help win elections, they were all over it.
The roosting is happening because it has become acceptable in polite society to proudly take that entitlement and, yes, actually demand it. It’s become acceptable enough that there are more people expecting the entitlement than there are paying for them.
This scheme is bad enough, but it’s downfall is accelerated by a society that tells us that the government does owe us something and we have every right to demand it.
I love the example David sets. Here he is King of Israel and God has blessed him in every way. He sets his mind on building a temple for God and God’s answer, via Nathan, is that David will not build the temple, but his son will. A proud man with a sense of entitlement would have been angry or offended or something other than what David was:
“Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:
‘Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign Lord?’” 2 Samuel 7:18-19
David’s response is basically, “What have I done to deserve being treated so amazingly?” He can do nothing but give thanks and be grateful for what God has already done. He knows that he is entitled to nothing and every advancement he has made has been because of God and not because of his own work or because he deserved it.
We should all strive to have that kind of humility when God redirects our plans. I’d love to see that kind of humility in those who would lead us today.