One time I was thinking about leaders and how they are chosen. My personality is low in the need or desire to control those around me so understanding what leadership looks like to the general public is something that has always been a bit of a mystery. Additionally because the majority of leaders that people pick are a great disappointment. This was during the 2016 election where Trump and Hillary were running against each other for the job of president. Both of them had huge faults. Neither of them were trustworthy to me. So I was wondering how they had made it to the point where they were the two most likely to be picked.
This was back when I spent time on Facebook and I vaguely remember someone posting about how that presidential election had candidates that were made up of the least two qualified and we, the voters, were being forced to choose which one was the least undesirable of the two. A very odd year. Even more odd was Trump winning the election.
Fast forward two years and Trump actually doing a somewhat competent job was a pleasant surprise. But I still wondered about leadership and I believe I heard God say that Trump was like David in the Old Testament. You know, King David. I thought about the life of David and what he had done and thought on what Trump had done and there seemed to be quite a few similarities.
Reading the story of David always confused me. Why a guy, though anointed by God to be the King, did some real horrible things and scripture said that David, ‘was a man after God’s heart.’ David had many women, he even had a guy killed so that he could marry another woman. David was King, anointed by God and chosen by the people, and then was deposed and then was reinstated as King afterward.
David received the blessing and was anointed to be King of Israel when he was young. It was a long, hard number of years later when that blessing was realized. When the people agreed with it and the King of Israel was gone, then David became King. It took an anointing, a preparing, and an acceptance by the people he would rule before David ever got to the throne. I think these components are what make a good leader. The Gifting to lead many and through hardship, the preparation and practice of doing these things on a smaller scale, and then the assent of the people. That last part in this nation, the United States of America, through the vote of the people.
I’m not one to believe in formulas ever when it comes to the ways of God. However, I do believe that there are ‘recipes’ as it were that it takes to bake a cake as well as to make a leader. I think every year that we have an election year we are tasked with trying to figure out who best fits what we believe is the best recipe for leadership.
This is not a direct endorsement of Donald Trump for president, however it is an endorsement of who he is as a human and a child of God in light of his previous leadership. I don’t believe that this election cycle is certain on who would be best and though we are a pivotal time in history the most important thing we can pay attention to is who we are to our families and to the next person we interact with. Whoever you vote for, I encourage you in your journey in finding out what good leadership means in your life.