January 5, 2013 … Leaders Leading - Followers Following

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 5

Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 22: 2 [NLT] …  
1 So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers and other relatives joined him there. 2 Then others began coming—men who were in trouble or in debt or who were just discontented—until David was the leader of about four hundred men. . 
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Contextual Reference Passage: … To study 1st Samuel 22, use this link … 
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Reference Passage: Proverbs 3: 5-6 : [NLT] … {We so often look at externals, at things like worldly success, to judge someone as worthy or unworthy as a Christian. But all God wants from us is surrender and a willing heart to use what HE gives us to serve Him.} … The passage linked here ... 

My Journal for Today: Oz Hillman’s editing from the Ministry To Men daily devotional I’m using this year has me back in 1st Samuel 22 again this morning, … this time into Verse 2 where David, on the run from King Saul, is hold up in a cave and the dregs of the Hebrew kingdom begin coming to him, looking for advice, protection, and leadership.

I’ve heard it said, by whom I don’t know, “Leaders lead!” And the young king-to-be, David, whether he wanted to or not, became the leader of a small, rag-tag bunch of misfits and what the world would have labeled as “failures.” But these men were willing to follow a man, David, whose fame was spreading as the man their God had anointed to be THE KING; and they were willing to do whatever David led them to do.

 General Douglas MacArthur was quoted to have said, “A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him.” Well, if that’s the case, David should have a failure, leading this crew of worldly failures against King Saul; but we know, from history, that David’s little army of rejects, off hiding in this cave in our text for today, would later be called “David’s mighty men” (see 1st Chron. 11: 10). So, we need to realize that what may seem improbable to the world is completely possible when a leader is following God’s will and there are others willing to follow him.

The Apostle Paul wrote to a misguided and failing church in Corinth (see 1st Cor. 11: 1 - paraphrased), “You can follow me, because I follow Christ;” … and Paul was able to express this confidence because he knew the truth of the reference passage I’ve repeated above from yesterday’s devotional (i.e., Prov. 3: 5-6). Paul knew that if he was fully willing to do what Jesus commanded of His disciples in Luke 9: 23 (which I hope you know by now since I quote it so often), that anyone else who followed him [Paul] would be on the right path because Paul was faithfully following Christ.

That’s what David relied upon as well. And that’s what begs the question today, “Whom are WE following?” Are we faithfully following a leader or leaders who are surrendered and following Christ obediently? Because if we follow Godly leaders, leaders who faithfully adhere to God’s word and seek His will, we just might go from being worldly failures to Godly successes. We may not be much – by worldly standards now – but if we deny our selves and follow Christ, by following the leadership of those who are obedient to God’s will, showing the way for us to follow, we can become “mighty men (or women) of God” as David’s rat-tag cave dwellers later became.

My Prayer for Today Lord, help me to follow Your leaders, who follow Your will from Your word, and lead me to serve You for Your glory.… Amen