lessons from the life of David

SHEPHERDING

The first term that describes David's brand of leadership is that he shepherded the people. To shepherd means to care for. This means that David not only ruled over the people but he also loved and cared for them. When tending sheep, a shepherd knows each member of his flock intimately. In fact, he knows them by name. If one of them wanders off, he goes after them and sacrifices himself to save the sheep. Asaph says that David shepherded the people

INTEGRITY OF HEART

The second quality mentioned in Asaph's description is integrity. Integrity means maintaining the highest ethical and moral standard. It means that David ruled with pure motives and with the best of intentions. David did make mistakes. But, when he made mistakes he owned up to them and never made excuses for them. He asked forgiveness and then returned to God's ways. Integrity breeds trust. When people can trust that you have their best interests at heart and not simply their own, then they will follow you like they did King David.

SKILLFUL HANDS

Third, Asaph says King David led them with skillful hands. In Today's language, this means David worked hard to understand and execute the best leadership and management practices. If he were alive now, he would read top leadership authors, go to seminars and even hire a coach or mentor in order to hone his leadership abilities and style.

11.

HUMILITY

Philippians 2:1-8; “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross.”

Note: There is no limit to the good a man can do, if he doesn’t care who gets the credit. Pride is the strength of sin. Joseph is a great example of humility: he served his father, brothers, Potiphar, jailer, and finally Pharaoh. Men rejected him, misunderstood him, imprisoned him, mocked and ridiculed him, yet he triumphed because of his humility.

What kind of a Leader was King David?

"Then three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam, while the troop of the Philistines...was then in Bethlehem.

"And David bad a craving and said, 'Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!' So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David.

"Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord, and he said. 'Be it far from me, 0 Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?' Therefore he would not drink it." (II Sam. 23:13-17)

David did not take the devotion of his three mighty men for granted; he greatly valued their lives. He could not quench his thirst with the sweet water for which his men had risked human life. His response was to worship the Lord with the water.

Sadly, it seems that many leaders in Africa drink the blood of their people (figuratively speaking) without a second thought. It is not just political leaders who show a lack of love and concern for the people they lead. The ordained servants of the church do it too! The educated, the elite, and the elected abuse those they lead. The pastors and bishops often abuse their power with total disregard for the needs of the people.

Two thousand years ago, our Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples, "The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. " (Matt. 20:25.28)

What we need are men and women who will be servant leaders. 

from the life of king David we can learn the following on servant leadership 

1. A SERVANT LEADER HAS A HEART FOR GOD

King David came from very humble beginnings. He was a forgotten child, the last of eight brothers, and had been assigned the humble duty of tending his father's sheep. His anointing by Samuel as the future King of Israel surprised even his father Jesse. Samuel had to force Jesse to call David to come to the sacrifice. The Lord had warned Samuel not to consider appearances only, for God looks at the heart.

David's heart was right with God, and as we read in 1 Samuel 16:13, "from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power" after Samuel anointed him. David's first state assignment was to carry King Saul's armour and play the harp when the king was under the attack of an evil spirit. David's presence always caused the evil spirit to lose its power over Saul. The first quality a Christian leader needs is to be filled with the Spirit of God.

A heart for God brings humility and repentance. David's taking of Bathsheba for his eighth wife and the murder of her husband probably depicts David at his lowest point in his spiritual life. But after reading Psalms 51, it is easy to understand why Nathan could say in II Samuel 12:14, "The Lord has taken away your sin...." David genuinely and openly repented. 

The primary thing a leader needs is a heart which is right with God. An effective  leader must be a mature Christian who is established in his or her faith. Such a leader has a reputation for integrity, though deeply aware of his or her own weaknesses. Furthermore, he needs to have emotional resilience which will help the leader to humbly, with God's help, accept the criticism and overcome the human failures that the leader will face from time to time. 

2. A SERVANT LEADER MUST HAVE WISDOM

Leaders also need to have a command of basic facts,possess relevant knowledge and be able to analyze problems so as to make decisions that bring glory to God. 

David was a born tactician. The way he handled Goliath (I Sam. 12) illustrates this. Though be was young, he was angry with Goliath for defying the armies of the living God. David's brother, Eliab, tried very hard to discourage him with abusive and belittling language, but David just disregarded him. David was also discouraged by King Saul but replied that he would kill Goliath just like be had killed a lion and a bear. David courteously refused King Saul's heavy coat of Armour since he was not used to it and preferred his primitive weapon, a sling and stone, to fight Goliath. David was able to gather all the facts, analyze the data available and organize his forces to meet die challenge. 

David was also a very effective administrator. When he became King of both Israel and Judah, his first act was to attack and conquer Jerusalem. He then went on to defeat all the enemies of Israel. David set up an effective government to run the country. His cabinet was composed of the effective, capable men. In I Chronicles 18:14-17, it records that David "reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all people."

King David not only provided an efficient government. He went on to strengthen the spiritual life of the nation. David organized to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem (II Sam. 6). Though God didn’t allow David to build the temple, David started to prepare by collecting building materials and bought the site where the temple would be built by his son Solomon. David established the temple administrative system and set up the temple music school. He personally composed some of the songs that were sung by the temple choirs.

As David illustrates, having a title (like King) does not mean a refusal to work hard in serving the people. Gifts of organization and wise planning are valuable tools with which the leader can save others

3. A SERVANT LEADER HAS RESPECT FOR OTHERS

leaders should develop social skills and a sensitivity to others. Alongside these, they need to be mentally alert to changes and be creative in the way they react to the changes around them. 

David's first activity after he became king was to give to the people a symbol of unity: a capital city. They went out to take Jerusalem from the Jebusites (I Sam. 5:6-16) and established a new capital which all the Israelites felt they owned. King David moved his government to the new capital and thus became in every way the leader of all the Israelites. In Jerusalem, no Israelites were foreigners and strangers, nor excluded because of former allegiances. They became fellow citizens who shared common victories, responsibilities, trials, and opportunities. Jerusalem became a focus of the united kingdom of Israel.

David deeply believed that authority ultimately has to be earned. After the death of King Saul, David was appointed King of Judah. It took another seven years and six months for him to win the confidence of the other eleven tribes of Israel. David wisely and patiently waited for the elders of Israel to come and invite him to be their King (II Sam. 5:3). He did not demand total power. David made wise decisions, which ultimately benefited the people. Truly, he reigned over Israel, doing what was right for ALL the people.

Perhaps the clearest mark of a servant leader is his attitude toward others. Does he seek ways to help them develop their ministries? Does he prefer others before himself? (Phil. 2: l-8). Like Jesus, the servant leader willingly picks up the towel to wash the feet of others (Jn. 13:1-15; Mark 10:45).

Even when the leader must correct a brother, his goal is to serve the other for his good (II Tim. 2:24-26).

4. A SERVANT LEADER MUST BE TEACHABLE

Church leaders need to develop balanced learning habits if they are to lead the church into the next century.

David was a simple shepherd boy when Samuel anointed him the future King of Israel. When David took food supplies to his three brothers who were at the war front with King Saul, his elder brother addressed him in a very demeaning way: "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? " But David was more than a shepherd. 

He was a quick learner! He defeated Goliath who had defied the entire Israel army for 40 days. David went on to learn more skills and tactics and earned a high rank in the army. He became well known and loved by the soldiers and the Israelites (I Sam. 18:6). David also learned quickly how to turn the band of 400 discontented and distressed men into an effective fighting force (I Sam. 22:2).

He learned all this on the job. David was a self-taught, lifelong learner. Had he lived in our time, he probably would have read many books and attended many seminars, learned from many older mentors, wherever possible.

So church leaders need to develop a teachable spirit that will make them effective in our increasingly technological world. Church leaders need to be aware of and sensitive to society's fast changes and adapt to methods that will keep the church reaching out to those who are lost.

On the contrary, a leader is not serving his Country if he closes his mind to learning from others, even those who are younger than he is.