Speak to Me, Speak Through Me

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 23-25

- "Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD.
- The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly.
- "Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness," declares the LORD.
- But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?

As I read today, Father, I find that the theme that jumps out at me is the failure of Israel's leaders to lead without selfishness, to lead in humility, especially when it concerns listening to You. Certainly, as a prophet, priest, pastor, poet, king, whatever...it makes a leader feel good when they have something new to offer to their people, some spectacular teaching, knowledge, insight or vision. In fact, many leadership organizations would say that if a leader doesn't have a continuing vision for whatever they lead, then whatever they lead will die. But how often does this pressure to have a fresh vision and a new direction lead us as leaders to ignore You? How often are we impatient and searching for the miraculous and hence we fail to listen and honestly search Your word.

I know that for myself there have been times when I have a certain message that I want to get across to a certain audience, so instead of approaching the text of Scripture to see what message it brings, I go to Scripture seeking to prove my message. That's ridiculous and I'm going to have to watch that in future. It's a very tempting thing to do, to use the Word to prove my own views right. But this is quite possibly what Jeremiah is talking about way back in chapter 8, when he says, " 'How can you say, "We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?

I don't want to wield the lying pen, making Scripture say what I want it to say. Fitting my experience and the experiences of others together to prove my points. In a community of truth, I, as a leader, want to be true to Your words.

I used to have a phrase that I used a lot in my devotional time with You, Lord. It was simple, but it is something that I always remember. But it is something I haven't said in a long time, and saying it helps me pursue it. The phrase is:

Speak to me, speak through me.

It's simple, but my idea is that as a leader, I don't want to speak or influence my community. I want You to speak and influence the community. I don't want to preach fancy sermons - I want You to preach fancy sermons. I want to be a conduit through which Your ideas, Your ways, Your commands flow to the community. And I guess I believe that to accomplish this, I will need to continue to develop two key qualities that are rare to many a leader (for example, the leaders of Judah and Israel lacked these!)

1. Listening - allow me the courage and patience to daily be still and listen for You
2. Humility - allow me the courage to not craft my own ideas, but to speak only what You have revealed to me through the truth of Scripture, the truth brought by others and my times of listening

Lord, my God, deepen these qualities of listening and humility within me. Let me be a leader who does not destroy and scatter, but instead let me stand in Your council and be a conduit of truth. Thank You for the continuing challenge of Your word. Amen.