Beyond the Search for the One Great Leader

The thought that some superman like hero can rise up to the occasion and save the day I find to be wonderful. Oh to find that one great leader who can turn the social tide around for the better! But then I also think God would have us look beyond the search for an earthly leader to solve the world’s woes. I think we must seek God, who is the ruler of all things, and in Him we can find the right leader, a man after God’s heart.

God brought the Hebrews into their promise land, and the priest governed the people under a type of theocracy. As time went by, however, the priesthood fell into corruption. Samuel the Prophet appointed his sons to judge, but they took bribes and perverted justice (1 Sam. 8:2-3). The people then appealed to the prophet to appoint a king like all the other nations. They were searching for the one great leader to rule and solve their woes. A king would make them like the other nations. Were they supposed to be like the other nations?

When the prophet inquired about the matter to God, the Lord said, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them” (1 Sam. 8:7). The people in their desire to be like all the other nations rejected God’s rule over them.

Samuel then informs the people what their king would be like, saying,

This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day (1 Sam. 8:11-18).

The prophet warns the people of all the hardships that would befall upon them if they took on a king like the other nations, but they insisted upon having one. They called for a king even after hearing chilling final prophetic words: “you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.” The king they received that day was Saul.

God also foreknew the people would still demand a king, and the prophet Moses declared what the Lord would seek after in a king:

When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, “I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,” you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, “You shall never again return that way.” He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel (Deut. 17:14-20).

 What a difference between the people’s choice for king and the righteous king that God would appoint. God’s king would ultimately be a man after God’s heart (1 Sam. 13:14). God ultimately used the institution of kingship as part of the plan of redemption. God incarnated Himself in the person of Jesus, Israel’s long awaited Messiah from the House of David, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Matt. 1:1, 21:9; Rom. 1:3-4; 1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 19:16). Christ reigns over a kingdom that is not of this world (John 18:36-37).

In America’s representative democracy, the search for the one great leader continues. Yet, finding the ideal leader is not an easy task. One might have a bad leader in office, and the best of all situations is to vote in a good leader. But this is not always the option. There is also the instance where there is a bad leader in office but the opposing candidate is worst. Another situation might be the worst leader is in office and the opposing candidate is simply the lesser of two evils (this might even be current situation). In these last two less-than-ideal situations voters must simply try to figure out who is going to do the least amount of damage while in office.

It is the reality of the worst case scenarios that drives God’s people to look beyond finding the one great leader to seeking what the Lord’s guidance in the world. God can renew the heart of a person, and through the Holy Spirit empower the individual to walk in righteousness. The kingdoms of this sinful and fallen world can never really attain the utopian ideal, but will always fall short so long as sinful people are appointed to rule. Yet, God has a kingdom that is not of this world, which is everlasting. Its citizens, who are in this world but not of this world, can make a difference.

~ Warren