Leaders of Choice (Part Two)

“Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.” (Exodus 18:22)


One of the reasons, obviously, it is so important for us to choose such men is because they, after all, are to be rulers over us. And rulers rule. As sinners, we tend toward rebellion against this idea. On the one hand, we like to call the shots ourselves when it is to our advantage—in other words, we each like having the rule at times—but for precisely the same reasons we often object to the idea of ruler-ship in others. At yet other times we want others to rule over us because we have no desire to take up our own responsibility and want someone else to “do” for us. But then we grow to resent this also, and we simultaneously grow unhappy with rulers once again.

But God has set up the universe in hierarchy, and it is inescapable. God the King is at the top (even the Trinity has a Father and a Son): all things are under His rule. He sets the sun in the sky to rule by day, the moon by night. He appoints man as sub-sovereign over His creatures on the earth; and there is a hierarchy in each man’s family: the man is head of the woman, and children are to honor and obey father and mother. God has set things up with rulers in mind. If we are smart, we will follow suit.

So again this is why it is so important to get the right leaders in place when we have the choice. If submission and following and judgment and laws are going to be involved, and they all must be for true leadership to take place, then we want good leaders to follow. If our desire is to be the best sort of men and women ourselves, it is wise for us to place over us, when we have the choice, those who are “the best” among us. Just as a student will be like his teacher, so a people will be like their rulers.

If we are to be God-fearers ourselves, if God is to be our Sovereign in all affairs, then we must have rulers who fear God above all others, who look to God, trust God, love God, serve God, and long to be like Him in all of His character, more than anyone else. If we desire justice and mercy and truth and honesty and integrity in all of our own dealings, we must have leaders who will set that standard for us.

For rulers not only rule, but they are the rule, so to speak. And they will rule according to their own standards as well. If our rulers are prone to be adulterers, then adultery will be winked at in our culture. And so it is. If our rulers are covetous and desire to gain at others’ expense, we will live in a society pronounced by greed and theft and bribery and injustice. We must have rulers, we need to have rulers—that is the way God has made the world, and it is what God calls for. But we do not need any rulers other than the kind for which God calls, and we would do well this day to pray for God to grant us such, to make us such, and to choose such leaders when the opportunity is given us.

“Sovereign God, we give You thanks for the way in which You have made the world, and we give thanks for Your own righteous and holy and just rule over us and all creation. We pray, dear God, You would make us like You, that You would help us to choose wisely those who are to rule over us, and that You would in Your own wisdom and kindness exalt those to places of leadership over us who will lead us in paths of righteousness because of their own righteousness and desire for good. Have mercy on us and grant such to us, we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.”

Leaders of Choice (Part One)

“Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.” (Exodus 18:22)

God is a God who selects men. Moses himself was a man chosen by God to lead His people. And although God can use and has used donkey breath to do His bidding, and although aside from His own Son He must use mere men, predominantly it is recorded in the Scriptures that the man of choice God places in leadership is a man who fits the description here: “able” (which word in the original language means far more: man of excellence, man of virtue, man of valor—the cream of the crop in every aspect), a man who fears the God who calls him, a man of truth and integrity, a man who deplores greed, envy, and lust.

But God is not the only one who selects men. God calls us to imitate Him and select leaders for ourselves. We must do this—it is hoisted upon us, we have the responsibility. If we are passive in choosing leaders for ourselves, men will seize such a golden opportunity and select themselves—and most of the time for all the wrong reasons: power, pride, and personal gain. When we take up the responsibility, however, we have the added responsibility to choose the right men, men such as God would choose Himself.

These opportunities arise in various arenas at various times in our lives. We may not get to choose our own parents—God does that for us—but we do have the immense responsibility to choose the leaders in our family when we choose a mate. When a man takes a wife, among other things, he is choosing a “leader” in his own little kingdom, and he should choose a woman who fits the bill. Obviously, the woman has just as much responsibility to choose wisely for herself and for her future children: she is called upon to choose the excellent, God-fearing, truthful man who hates covetousness.

God also tasks us with choosing leaders in our civil government—from the most local magistrate (“ruler of tens”—think alderman, police chief, town mayor) to the highest offices in the land (“rulers of thousands”—our legislators, judges, and the President and all his men). When we go to the polls, do we use the criteria given by God here for choosing those who are to rule over us and judge our affairs? If not, why are we surprised or upset when we get what we generally have?

“God, grant to us leaders such as You Yourself choose, and grant us the wisdom and courage to choose such ourselves. Help us in all of the choices continually before us—whether leadership in our homes, in our churches, in our communities, in our businesses, in our nation, or even in our friendships—to select the best, the most virtuous, those who love You above all else, men and women of integrity, those we can trust, those who are not controlled by money or greed or envy or lust. And make us such ourselves, we pray, dear God, in the name of the greatest example of such a Chosen One, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.”