Surface Leadership

Reading about Solomon, I have found myself almost jealous of his wisdom and intelligence. However, as I read farther, I have found that, yes Solomon was seen as one of the wisest rulers in history, but he let the power get to his head. He was a very harsh ruler, excessively taxing his people and drafting them into labor and military service. The biggest mistake he made was in his personal life. He fell away from God as time went on. He married pagan wives in order to secure diplomatic relationships. He compromised his personal life in order to be a politician.

This is something I really want to avoid. I don't want to go about politicking just for the sake of politicking. I want to show people that I truly care about them and believe in what I'm doing. If I do that, I really believe I can be an effective leader. I need to be a spiritual leader before I am a political leader.

Solomon's Prayer

Verse for the Week:

So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours? 1 Kings 3:9

The only thing Solomon prayed for when he took the throne of Israel is that he may not only have wisdom from God, but that he (Solomon) could take the right action himself. It is a scary thing to govern a student body, let alone a nation. Solomon was man enough to admit that he could not do it. When he asks who could, he is stating rhetorically that no one but God could actually do it. On any level of leadership, this is how people should humbly come before God. Solomon's prayer has become my prayer for this week especially, and for the whole next year to come.