The Art of Leadership By Dag Heward-Mills
When a leader comes up with a new vision, old friends often back off. Once again, the leader is left all alone. When the Lord was sending a message to the churches in Asia, the message was sent to the leaders of the churches. Leaders are often alone when they hear God speaking to them. The Bible gives us some examples.
- Noah was the only one who was chosen to go into the ark.
The whole world was full of wickedness. God decided to do away with the then world by a flood. Noah was alone in his righteousness before God.
“And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation” (Genesis 7:1).
God said of Noah, “For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” He was alone in his righteousness! Noah’s sons and their wives were blessed to be exempted from evil because of their relationship with righteous Noah.
- David spent many lonely years running away from King Saul.
Following Saul’s persistence in disobedience, God instructed Samuel to anoint David in his stead. Saul’s wrath was kindled as the people sang David’s praises and he decided to kill David. David spent a long time running away. He even had to disguise himself as a mad man at a point, in order to escape being noticed. Even outsiders noticed that he was alone.
“Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?” (1 Samuel 21:1).
- Elijah was alone in the wilderness when he was fed by ravens.
Elijah was a great prophet of God. He alone stood in contest with hundreds of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. After he had decisively defeated the prophets of Baal and killed them, Jezebel sent him a message threatening him. And Elijah took off into the wilderness. That is where he heard the call of God. He was all alone in the wilderness. Can you imagine being under a tree in the wilderness all alone and fleeing from a wicked woman?
“But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat” (1 Kings 19:4,5).
- Jonah was the only person cast out of the ship.
Jonah was sent by God into the city of Nineveh to preach to them so that they would repent. The wickedness of the people of Nineveh was so much that God sent a prophet to them. In response to God’s instruction, Jonah ran away. In response to this, “the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken” (Jonah 1:4). The people in the ship were afraid and started calling out to their gods. Guess what? Jonah was fast asleep. The people immediately suspected him of being the source of the evil. How could he be asleep in the face of such a tempest!
When the other passengers and the ship captain interviewed him, “And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you” (Jonah 1:9-12).
He was swallowed by the whale and went alone into the belly of the fish. He prayed out of that dark hole and God heard him.
“Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly”
(Jonah 2:1).
You cannot even start to imagine how you would feel in the belly of a whale? How frightening! Many followers feel that their leaders are fearless, but any honest leader will tell you about real fears that ravage his mind daily. May God be your ever present help in your lonely moments!
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