Grieving Over Leadership

It is important to recognize what events are worth grieving over.   #daybyday   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   Should the widow grieve the loss of a husband? Should she be wrought with emotion? Should the grief be because it was a personal and devastating loss? Absolutely. Without a doubt. We would think it strange if that wasn’t the case. But we should also grieve at the hole in leadership that is left; at the spiritual vacuum that was created. Don’t forget that the relationship between husbands and wives, and children and parents, and friends are all pictures of kingdom-realities, that help make kingdom living glorious and clear and full of joy.   I think we are to understand something deeper in 2 Samuel 1 than just the fact that there had been a sword fight and Saul and Jonathan, others lost. This is not the first time war has been fought and there was loss of life. What David is lamenting is the fact that God’s anointed one had been killed, along with his successor, that God’s people were without a leader. David is grieving over the fact that the people of Israel were experiencing God’s severe discipline, because Saul refused the leadership of God. And as such, the army of Israel was defeated. “because they had fallen by the sword.” He is grieving because a hole has been left in leadership, and what are the people of God to do now? He is grieving that God will be mocked and seen as small among the Philistines. There is something here from which we need to learn. We need to learn what is worth grieving over. When you see the people of God afflicted with bad leadership, or no leadership, does it grieve you? When you see a lack of repentance in your own life, or in others’ lives, like we see in Saul’s life, does it grieve you? When you see churches in defeat, do we weep? When you see a loss of confidence in God, is your heart broken? When you see the people of God moving and living in weakness, and being routed by the enemy, does it tear at your soul? When they are more inclined to hide out and wait, instead of standing up to fight, does it bother you? Do we stop what we are doing and cry out to God on their behalf?