Tehillah C.E. Entry

"So how did you become a leader?" I asked our group in one of our Cutting Edge table discussions. "Well, I was promoted in our company and now I am leading my group.", answered one person. "In my case, there is just a need for somebody to step up and lead, and nobody else stepped up so I stepped up and now, I am leading”, answered another. Hearing these words, made me remember a lot of people I know who were in the same position as what this person went through. I think most leaders became leaders this way- they just answered a need of a group and got their hands dirty and took up the challenge.

I remember the story of Solomon when he became the king of Israel. Like most leaders I know he became a leader by being appointed as one and not as a personal choice. His father, King David, appointed him to be the next king of Israel. I don't know exactly what Solomon taught at that moment but if I am appointed to lead the Philippines right now, I would probably say the same thing as Solomon,"...I am like a child who does not know his way around...”. In leading a small team, there are already many variables that could account to the leader's failures and successes; leading a nation is total a different story - a different game. But Solomon has to step up and take up the challenge. And I think this is the turning point of every would-be leader it is when the person realizes that he is now a leader. And he has to do what he should do -- lead. I call this point, "taking hold of the ball". Like in crunch time in a basketball game, the team captain would always ask for the play to go through him. He doesn't want to put the responsibility of winning or losing in the hands of other people. He wants to take charge of the responsibility and not pass the responsibility to someone else. He either shoots the ball himself or set up an open teammate to shoot for the win. Either way, he made the play and regardless of what the outcome is, he is responsible. As I've said, it is in this point, when a person stops from being a man that he is and take the mantle of leadership -- take hold of the ball.

Many times, it's hard to take responsibility. It's easier to just pass it rather than play it. The pressure is sometimes too much to handle. It's easy not to take the ball and just pass it to another person so we won't be blamed for the outcome. It’s easier to point a finger to other people and blame them for our failures. But what will really make things happen is when we take charge of the ball. What ever we are leading right now, whether a small prayer group, a ministry, a big organization or a church or a corporation or even ourselves, we will not be able to make things happen until and unless we take in to ourselves the reality that we are responsible and whatever the outcome is, we need to realize that we don’t have anybody else to blame but ourselves.

I believe that’s why Solomon came to God because it dawned on him that as a king, he is responsible. And with this realization comes another realization that for such a great responsibility -- he cannot do it alone. In 1 Kings 3:9, Solomon prayed to God, “…who by himself is able to govern this great nation of yours?” Indeed we cannot do it alone even in leading our very lives, we need God. And like Solomon, let us pray for “understanding heart to govern the people and know the difference between right and wrong…” More often than not, we really don’t know what to do and we need God’s wisdom to govern first ourselves, then the people.