Walking with the Wise #189: Learning to Lead

“In a multitude of people is the glory of a king, 

but without people a prince is ruined.”
—Proverbs 14:28

People are people. With all of their different personalities, backgrounds, habits, quirks, and idiosyncrasies, people can be tough to work with. If you’ve ever led a group of people, you know exactly how difficult it can be. But it is people that are necessary to make things run, which is exactly what our proverb is talking about.

If a King is to rule well, he needs people, and he needs to understand his people. If he doesn’t then he is ruined and his kingdom is shattered. Consider for a moment King Rehoboam. King Rehoboam was the son of Solomon, the immensely loved, successful and wise Solomon. Upon ascending to the throne of Israel, Rehoboam was confronted by Jeroboam, a political refugee from his father’s kingdom who had found refuge in Egypt until Solomon’s death. Leading a group of dissidents, Jeroboam confronted Rehoboam and desired to know how they would fare under his reign.

“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you”—1 Kings 12:4.

Rehoboam asked for three days so that he might seek counsel, which he did from two different groups—one older group who had worked for his father and a second group with whom he had grown up. The first group, the older group, counseled him to heed their request and lighten their load, but the second group responded negatively, saying,

“Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions’”—1 Kings 12:10-11.

Infuriated by his unwillingness to hear their entreaties, the people answered the king,  

“What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David”—1 Kings 12:16.

Rehoboam’s response caused ten of the twelve tribes to secede from his kingdom, leaving him to rule over two, all because of Rehoboam’s failure to discern the pains of his people. His failure is an illustration of today’s proverb. If one is to find glory as a ruler, then he must have people and know how to rule them rightly, because if he doesn’t then they will desert him and he will be ruined.

Following God means loving people—all kinds of people. And if God puts us into a leadership position, we must learn how to listen to the people we are leading. Not that we do everything they ask, but that we might know how to be effective leaders, taking people to new heights, equipping them to be the people God wants them to be, and watching them grow along the way.

Has God called you to be a leader? What kind of leader are you? Are you listening to those around you? Or are you turning a deaf ear to their pleas? Love those whom you lead, let them see Christ in you, and take the time to listen and learn about them so that you might know how to lead them more effectively—for God’s glory and your joy. Amen.