leadership reflections:: 6/22

here are some leadership reflections from 1 kings 1-12::


:: solomon: david’s son. greatest king of israel. did things his father never did or could; including: bringing peace to the land, building the temple, and taming joab. God appeared to him twice; and made him the wealthiest and wisest man ever. yet 1 kings 11 begins with the following phrase::
“now king solomon loved many foreign women.
besides pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from moab, ammon, edom, sidon, and from among the hittites. the Lord had clearly instructed the people of israel,
‘you must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.’
yet solomon insisted on loving them anyway.
he had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines.
and in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.” (nlt)
the commentator on my study bible writes this:
“solomon didn’t turn away from God all at once or in a brief moment. his spiritual coldness started with a minor departure from God’s laws. (in 1 kings 3, Solomon marries one pharaoh’s daughters to form an alliance with him). over the years, that little sin grew until it resulted in solomon’s downfall. a little sin can be the first step to turning away from God. it is not the sins we don’t know about but the sins we excuse that cause us the greatest trouble…”
question: what small sin is in danger of destroying me, and my walk with God?


:: forced labor: solomon represented a fulfilled promise. abraham was promised that he would become a great nation that would bless all people. so was isaac. moses was promised that israel would have a land of its own. all of those promises were embodied in solomon. israel went from pharoah’s runaway slaves to pharoah’s ally. they went from slaves to slave drivers. what happened?
after solomon dies, his son rehoboam becomes king. the people ask if he will go easier on them than solomon did. he seeks advice and the older advisers say this: “If you are willing to be a servant to these people today and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects.” servant-leadership always wins. sadly, rehoboam chose to be more harsh, and the people rebelled against him, resulting in one of the most confusing parts of the bible: a divided kingdom of israel and judah- with 2 kings with similar names: rehoboam and jeroboam.
question: am I serving those who I lead or expecting them to serve me?


:: protecting your title: jeroboam seemed like a good guy. he was the new king of israel. he was afraid that his people would go to jerusalem to worship and return to rehoboam. so he built 2 golden calves for the people to worship in the land of israel. and the people stayed local and worship these idols. bad news.
question: am I making under-handed choices to preserve my title as leader?