In Brazil and the United States, we have upcoming elections. That’s a moment that we should take to think about the importance of our leaders, no matter where they are: in a government office, at work, in the church.
Photo credit: FMG2008 (Creative Commons)
Talking about leaders, one thing caught my attention while I was reading through the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles in my yearly Bible reading: every time that Israel or Judah had a godly man as a king, one that followed God and lived according to His will, all people also behaved according to God’s will.
But when they had a bad king, one that worships other gods and rebelled against God, so did the people.
Some of the narrations in the Bible are brief, and they don’t explore the matter very deeply, but one thing is undeniable: the people followed their leader, no matter if he was a good or a bad one.
Looking back now, it is alarming how the same people would do good things when following a good leader or evil things when following a bad leader.
Take for example king Manasseh, who was an evil king (2 Chronicles 33:1-2), even though his father, Hezekiah, had been a good king before him (2 Chronicles 29:1-2). He did evil things, but not only that, he led people to do evil things too:
But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites. (2 Kings 21:9)
Many of those same people were behaving well during Hezekiah’s reign. But they changed their hearts during Manasseh’s reign.
Observing Israel’s and Judah’s kings, we can see that through their actions, the leader brought blessings or condemnation to the whole people.
David, Hezekiah, and Josiah (2 Kings 22:1-2), for example, were good kings and the land and the people were blessed during their reign.
Manasseh, as I mentioned before, was an evil king, and because of him God decided to deliver Judah in the hands of a conqueror from afar, and its people to be exiled (see 2 Kings 21:10-15).
Not only Manasseh displeased the Lord, but he also influenced people to do it, in such a way that God decided to punish them. All of them in fact. Even the good ones were affected (Daniel and his friends, Ezekiel, and others).
This is how important a leader is!
Jesus is our utmost leader, and He knows that we also need leaders here on earth, so He gave us bosses, pastors, ministers, governors, etc.
He gave the example of what a leader should be, so we can look at Him and know what a good leader looks like, what kind of person we should want as our leaders.
In biblical times, people didn’t have the chance to choose their leaders. Their only choice was whether to follow him or not. Today, we have both choices: we can choose who we want to lead us and whether or not to follow him/her.
Let’s choose wisely, in both cases, according to God’s will.
So I ask you to pray about your vote. Make sure you choose the candidate that God wants you to choose.
And no matter what is the result of the election, remember to keep praying for your leaders. They need it, even if they don’t realize it.
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)
Believe me, the voting is very important for exactly what you described. People are drawn around and about w/o paying attention to what could be coming down their path. I have read that portion of scripture so many times. One aspect we almost never think of is that Manasseh came back to the Lord after his capture and taken to Assyria. He had killed Isaiah, and drawn so many others to the demonic/idolatry worship. BUT at about 39, he turned to the Lord and repented and tried to restore aspects in Jerusalem when he was released. He’s known as the worst king ever… but he did return to the Lord for about the same length of time… 25 years before his death. II Chron. 33:11-17 explains this. The good part? No matter what sins we have been buried in, the Lord will forgive and help us to restore.
When it comes to voting, we can only do the best it SEEMS to be… but we don’t know the future, how leaders will change [for good or evil], how we will be used for provide or provoke or promise. I voted for Romney, b/c he SEEMS to have a more solid understanding of what is needed. AND since the Obama involvement in gov’t has been pushing us towards the responsibility of paying taxes towards abortion is something I simply can’t do.
Be interesting to see how it all plays out.
You do good thinking, as usual, Cris.
Joanne, thanks for bringing that up about Manasseh. He did repent of his wrongdoings. You’re right, no matter how awful things a person did, God is always willing to accept their repentance and forgive them.
About the ones we vote for, we have always remember to pray for them. Like you said, we don’t know if they will change their ways for good or evil, so we need to keep praying for them.