Take Two

(Note: this blog entry is taken directly from the Maxwell Leadership Bible {which I cannot recommend strongly enough} and was interspersed with my reading for today.  I hope it enriches you as it did me)

God calls every leader to be a servant, but not every servant is to be a leader.  So, how do we take the step to leadership?

In Hebrew, the word we translate as “leader” (nagiyd) comes from a root that conveys the idea of servanthood and being an example to others.  The word is variously translated in Scripture as captain, ruler, prince, governor, and noble.

Leader vs. King

The Hebrew term for “leader” stands in shrp contrast to the word for “king”.  The fairly neutral Hebrew term for “king” (melech) allowed for the possibility of independence, for being a maverick.  Samuel warned against this very thing when the Israelites asked for a king.  A melech might be a renegade, but a nagiyd was under authority, subject to a higher power and fulfilling the wishes of that higher power.  Saul was melech, while Samuel was a nagiyd.

To be a captain, ruler, prince, governor or noble of the people of God, a person must first come squarely under the authority of God.  We can go no further without first understanding this element.  Yet a second element is just as important.  The Hebrew term nagiyd also means to stand boldly to announce, to manifest- the natural outgrouth of receiving commands from God.  The leader is to boldly stand and communicate God’s commands with conviction.

God’s leader is first to be a servant of the Lord, then an example, then a proclaimer and communicatior to the people.  And no one did this better than Samuel.