O God, have mercy on me. The enemy troops press in on me. My foes attack me all day long. My slanderers hound me constantly, and many are boldly attacking me.

Without wise leadership, a nation fails; with many counselors, there is safety.

The drag on leadership

Leaders have grand vision, and great visions are reached overnight. Leadership by nature pushes against a high drag coefficient. Drag is the resistance air gives to the body of airplanes or automobiles as they move through air. The drag on leadership is so great that it threatens to bring leaders to a grinding halt unless they have an extraordinary level of God-inspired perseverance.

Leadership is more about perseverance than about speed. Psalm 132:1 says, "Lord, remember David and all that he suffered." David was one of the greatestand most successfulleaders in Israel's history, yet his life was marked by continual, extreme hardship.

For example, after the prophet Samuel anointed David as the next king of Israel, King Saul repeatedly attempted to kill David. David had to wander in the desert and in foreign lands for years as a fugitive with several hundred outcasts. David was the anointed leader of Israel, but he endured a lifetime of hardships as Israel's shepherd.

So don't be surprised by the drag coefficient of leadership. With God's help, you can endure it and overcome.
CRAIG BRIAN LARSON

adapted from Leadership Devotions compiled by the editors of Christianity Today International, Tyndale House Publishers (2001), pp 170-71

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Being a general calls for different talents from being a soldier.
TITUS LIVY

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House