In this morning’s Bible reading I finished the last 3 chapters of II Samuel.  It is incredible and disheartening at the same time to realize how self-centered man is .  God brought the Israelites out of Egypt to give them their own Promised Land.  Yet, who did they see–Moses.  All through the judges following Moses and Joshua the people continued to see the man–the judge.  As God finally told Samuel it was OK to appoint a king for them, God said the people hadn’t abandoned Samuel, they had abandoned Him as their King.  Today in wrapping up David’s leadership for Israel, the chapters tell over and over how God used David and his mighty men to conquer Israel’s enemies.  Yet, who did the people see–David and the men.  Are we different today?  Not at all.  The nature of man is man.  The spirit of man is God but we still want to make it man.

I’ve been in leadership most of my life in one form or another.  I never allowed myself to move too high in rank because I would be too visible and people might learn of my past and then I’d be shunned and shut out.  I am fully awake to the “man thinking” of this now.  In all our leadership, great or small, God wants us to give Him the credit by pointing people to Him.  Whether it is secular or ministry leadership, it is not difficult to direct purposeful leadership to Godly ways helping people to see that in following God’s ways we are empowered by His Spirit.

More and more I’m realizing that God’s Light which is seen when we give Him the “charge” of our work, will illuminate people to Him.  Before Celebrate Recovery and my counseling the Light shed shone only on my past to me.  When that happened I allowed the voices of my past to take charge of how I responded to God.  I would only do as much as I felt safe doing–even as a leader I did this.  However, as I awakened to just how much God wanted to take all I feared and turn it into His Kingdom Work, I have been able to surrender more completely.  I’m sure I have a long way to go yet, but I know now that letting God’s Light shine through me is one thing, helping the listener find safety in having that same Light focus on God’s desire to help them deal with their “hurts, hang-ups and habits” is yet another.  God’s Light does illuminate our past but in so doing He has a plan already in place to replace the past with purpose and overcoming.  Praise His Holy Name!