Leadership is submission and accountability, for therein lies the mandate that empowers our actions.
When Saul was anointed King, Samuel the priest told him to wait seven days at Gilgal. Now Samuel was Saul’s key point of accountability, his reference point. He would be akin to a covering leader, chairman, boss, stakeholder or shareholder i.e. our locus of authority.
Saul should have obeyed Samuel and gone straight to Gilgal, but he felt there were more important things to do and battles to engage. He only obeyed two years later.
The first principle of leadership is that we are actually not instruments of our own timing.
We are beholden and should respect the authority that anoints us. No matter how well intentioned our actions may be, running off on our own is a sure recipe for a dangerous standoff and loss of confidence. Waiting until our stakeholders give us a mandate to proceed is a vital process in securing real authority, rather than simple positional authority. Positional authority (rank, status, position) has little currency in real leadership contexts and expert authority (knowledge, opinion) has not much more.
Real leaders arise out of a need to implement what they were appointed for and to influence all other power bases (staff, the organization, the public, experts, detractors and other leaders), to buy into the vision. Real leadership is about influence and the ability to command a following. Someone once said, “He who thinketh he leadeth but findeth that no one follweth, merely taketha walk.”
So when Saul was asked to wait, for only a short period, he would have learnt something from Samuel about his role and the expectations that came with his mandate. Ultimately he would have gained something of God’s heart rather than his own head.
The second principle of leadership is to recognize that we are custodians of what is entrusted to us. Israel was God’s heritage, not Saul’s fiefdom. It was God’s kingdom, not Saul’s empire. The heart of God for His own people was all that had to be implemented, not Saul’s own original thinking or presumption. The context is always bigger than us. We are dispensable and God’s heritage will outlast even the most charismatic of leaders.
Saul also needed to realize that his own stature (he was head and shoulders above all his peers), his breeding or his identified skills were of limited consequence. Indeed he was ultimately replaced by a youngster who had no experience in matters of state, but possessed the one thing Saul never had: a heart for God. The authority of Saul lay entirely in his mandate, his anointing. I can be quite outspoken, but hate to defend myself: yet when a principle or the interests of those I represent is at risk, I will put up a defiant struggle, because the mandate of my constituencies carries weight, or authority.
Saul was anointed to be king of Israel, a privilege extended to him by God and His people: with it came a reciprocal responsibility to fight for their cause, defend them and establish a form of government that would facilitate kingdom life and not to feather his nest or champion his ego.
The third principle of leadership is to recognize that the locus of your power lies not in your qualifications, your personal power, your stature (even though men tend to follow men of power) or your background. It rests entirely on your anointing and the role you have been called to assume on behalf of those that anointed you. God said to Moses, “be careful to implement all that I showed you on the mount.” That is exactly what I mean: implement God’s mandate not your own personal ambition or vision. If you can get that right, you will rise to greatness and be entrusted with much.
Saul felt that anointing equaled status and substance, instead of servant-hood. He implemented what he though was a good idea and missed the point, frustrating himself, his people and the throne above his head.
When Saul was anointed King, Samuel the priest told him to wait seven days at Gilgal. Now Samuel was Saul’s key point of accountability, his reference point. He would be akin to a covering leader, chairman, boss, stakeholder or shareholder i.e. our locus of authority.
Saul should have obeyed Samuel and gone straight to Gilgal, but he felt there were more important things to do and battles to engage. He only obeyed two years later.
The first principle of leadership is that we are actually not instruments of our own timing.
We are beholden and should respect the authority that anoints us. No matter how well intentioned our actions may be, running off on our own is a sure recipe for a dangerous standoff and loss of confidence. Waiting until our stakeholders give us a mandate to proceed is a vital process in securing real authority, rather than simple positional authority. Positional authority (rank, status, position) has little currency in real leadership contexts and expert authority (knowledge, opinion) has not much more.
Real leaders arise out of a need to implement what they were appointed for and to influence all other power bases (staff, the organization, the public, experts, detractors and other leaders), to buy into the vision. Real leadership is about influence and the ability to command a following. Someone once said, “He who thinketh he leadeth but findeth that no one follweth, merely taketha walk.”
So when Saul was asked to wait, for only a short period, he would have learnt something from Samuel about his role and the expectations that came with his mandate. Ultimately he would have gained something of God’s heart rather than his own head.
The second principle of leadership is to recognize that we are custodians of what is entrusted to us. Israel was God’s heritage, not Saul’s fiefdom. It was God’s kingdom, not Saul’s empire. The heart of God for His own people was all that had to be implemented, not Saul’s own original thinking or presumption. The context is always bigger than us. We are dispensable and God’s heritage will outlast even the most charismatic of leaders.
Saul also needed to realize that his own stature (he was head and shoulders above all his peers), his breeding or his identified skills were of limited consequence. Indeed he was ultimately replaced by a youngster who had no experience in matters of state, but possessed the one thing Saul never had: a heart for God. The authority of Saul lay entirely in his mandate, his anointing. I can be quite outspoken, but hate to defend myself: yet when a principle or the interests of those I represent is at risk, I will put up a defiant struggle, because the mandate of my constituencies carries weight, or authority.
Saul was anointed to be king of Israel, a privilege extended to him by God and His people: with it came a reciprocal responsibility to fight for their cause, defend them and establish a form of government that would facilitate kingdom life and not to feather his nest or champion his ego.
The third principle of leadership is to recognize that the locus of your power lies not in your qualifications, your personal power, your stature (even though men tend to follow men of power) or your background. It rests entirely on your anointing and the role you have been called to assume on behalf of those that anointed you. God said to Moses, “be careful to implement all that I showed you on the mount.” That is exactly what I mean: implement God’s mandate not your own personal ambition or vision. If you can get that right, you will rise to greatness and be entrusted with much.
Saul felt that anointing equaled status and substance, instead of servant-hood. He implemented what he though was a good idea and missed the point, frustrating himself, his people and the throne above his head.
See 1 Samuel 10:8 and 1 Samuel 13:8
© Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com
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