With upright heart he tended them, and guided them with skillful hand.
❧ Ps 78:70-72
God once again speaks to us about leadership. David, an humble shepherd who cares tenderly for his sheep, is brought in from the fields to tend to Israel. It is not pointless that we see the movement here that we do—from the fields to the halls of power, the same man who tended nursing ewes now skillfully guiding his people. Nor is it by accident that we are told of David's upright heart.
God's ideal for leadership is not a sex addict or one who cannot be restrained from bullying or one whose principle form of communication is daily outbursts intended to manipulate an audience of racists. For persons who call themselves Christians to see God's will being done in a person who embodies all three of these traits is unbiblical to the extreme.
When God chooses, then skill, humility, wisdom, and tenderness are granted to one who can admit her or his mistakes. If we want to make our nation great by God's standards, then we've been looking for a leader in all the wrong places.
Send us leaders, Lord, who embody the humility, skill, and tenderness we see in these verses; in the Name of the Good Shepherd, who taught me to pray.
