Leaders? … Hmmmmm

Jeremiah 4:19-6:15; Psalm 77; Proverbs 24:23-25

What are God’s leaders called to do? Let’s make a quiz out of this. It’ll be multiple choice. I hope it’s pretty easy, so here goes:

a) Figure out ways to get God’s blessings for people who don’t commit themselves to God.

b) Respond to people’s confessions that God isn’t really all that important in their lives with lighthearted understanding, or even approval.

c) Lead God’s people into sinning against God.

d) Follow and love God with all their hearts, and love God’s people enough to teach them to do the same.

I doubt that I even need to tell you what the correct answer is. Just in case you’re wondering, though, you should have chosen “d”. It’s such an obvious answer that we can’t imagine anyone missing it.

The problem is that it’s an easy answer on paper, but it may be a hard answer in real life. God’s appointed leaders sometimes are not committed to loving and following God with all their hearts, and certainly may not be committed to loving God’s people enough to teach them to love and follow Him.

That was the case in Jeremiah’s day. As he examined God’s people, he found that many of them were rebellious and refused to repent. Here’s what he said:

I thought, "These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God." But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds. – Jeremiah 5:4-5

Did you hear that? It wasn’t just the general population that had turned away from God; it was the leaders, too. It wasn’t just the people who hadn’t had the opportunity to study God’s Word; it was the people whose lives had been immersed in the Scriptures—in the words of God Himself! They were disobeying God and refusing to repent. The leaders!

Father, protect me and all Your other appointed leaders from having such callous hearts. Protect us from ever getting to the point where we feel that we have mastered our roles, mastered our studies, mastered our calling, mastered the Scriptures,…mastered You. May You be our King. May You be our God. May You be loved and feared by all those of us who claim to be Your people’s called and appointed leaders.