Praying for our leaders

Leaders will always disappoint us.

Whether government leaders or church leaders, they will disappoint us.

They disappoint us because they are human. And as humans, they have all their flaws and failings.

David may have been stronger been Ish-bosheth. But he was no better at dealing with Joab than Ish-bosheth was at dealing with Abner.

David also married many women despite God’s commands (Deuteronomy 17:17).

It seems he married at least one of them purely for political reasons. (2 Samuel 3:3)

In addition, he demanded to have Michal back, seemingly more for political reasons (she was a daughter of the former king, Saul) than actual love. This despite the fact that her new husband obviously loved her.

One also wonders how Michal felt. Certainly she had once loved David (1 Samuel 18:28).

But despite being treated badly by her father (1 Samuel 25:44), she did seem to have moved on.

Now she had to compete with multiple wives for David’s attention. And that may have led to her later attitude toward David. (2 Samuel 6:20)

And yet, God accomplished his purposes through David.

In the same way, he will accomplish his purposes through our political leaders and our church leaders, even though we can’t always see what those purposes are.

So let’s pray for our leaders. Pray that God will accomplish his purposes despite their flaws, despite their weaknesses.

For our leaders that don’t know God, pray that they will come to know him.

And for those who do know God, pray that God will continue to lead them and help them to become the leaders, more than that, the men and women calls them to be.

God shows them grace. Let us have that heart of grace as we pray for them.