Leadership can be tough.
Dealing with people can be rewarding and difficult at times. I want to share with you two lessons from King Saul on confidence in leadership.
Confidence is a tricky subject.
Too much of it someone is called proud or self-centered. If we do not have much of it we may be called humble. So we often think of humility as low confidence and something we need to gain. While it is true that we cannot be proud or self-centered it does not mean we should not have confidence. Likewise, having confidence does not remove all humility. The reality is we need confidence as leaders. How else can we do and make the decisions we make? Got that figured out yet?
Let’s Get the story first:
In 1 Samuel 15, we see an interesting story with King Saul. King Saul destroys the Amalekites but does not fully obey the Lord. We know this text best for the words of Samuel stating “Obedience is better than sacrifice” in verse 22. However, the bigger story was Saul failed in doing what the Lord had said and because of it the Lord removes his anointing and begins the plans to replace him.
Key Question:
Why did King Saul disobey God? Was he just rebellious? Did he not like God’s plan? Each question may have merit but I want to point us as leaders to two key points.
1: Lacking Confidence can cause us to disobey God.
In verse 17 Samuel told, “You may think little of yourself..” Samuel then goes into reminding the King he is the anointed leader for Israel.
Samuel knew that Saul lacked confidence in himself and knew that was a key point of his disobedience to God. Samuel did not encourage Saul to think he was great because of himself, but rather reminded him of God’s anointing on his life.
We must be careful not to be proud but to be confident in the Lord’s calling and anointing.
God’s anointing on you is why you should have confidence. He has placed you in leadership where you are, so be strong in Him to do what He has placed you to do. If you do not, it can cause you to disobey God because you lack the boldness and confidence in doing what He has called you to do.
2: Lacking Confidence can cause you to become a people pleaser.
Then later in verse 24, King Saul says “I was afraid of the people and did what they demanded.”
Because of Saul’s lack of confidence, he not only disobeyed God, but he did so as he sought to please people. He tried to do what the people wanted. A similar story plays out with Aaron while Moses is on the mountain. Aaron did not obey what Moses spoke but rather did what the people wanted.
As Christian leaders, we are here to serve people, like Jesus. But serving people is not obeying their commands or demands. Serving people is about loving them, caring for them, and sacrificing for them as the Lord speaks and directs.
As a leader, you must remember you are there to lead God’s people into the place God is calling and directing.
Look at it this way. If the way of God was to listen to the demands (as Saul put it) of the people, there would have been no need for a leader. It was the Christian leader who God spoke to (through the prophet) to lead the people to do what God’s will was for them as a nation.
I must admit this is a hard balance to find. We want to love people, serve people, and even make people happy. That is what we do when we love people. We also have all seen demanding and authoritative leaders who became not confident but arrogant.
God cannot use a leader who is not willing to be unliked by people to obey God.
Far too many led by popularity rather than by anointed confident leadership in Christ. With love, Christian leaders are to hear the voice of God, seek to guide the people into God’s plan, and not bend to the demands of people.
My friends, love people with all you have. But I also encourage you with Joshua 1:9- Be Strong … be confident in God’s calling. He has anointed you for His call. (loosely quoted)
