Pages

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Corrupting Power

Gideon, as we discussed yesterday, did some amazing things in battle.  When you read the story in Judges 6-8, though, you find out that Gideon isn't the real hero of the story.  God is.  In fact, the battle is approached in such a way that there can be no doubt that God won the battle - not Gideon or the army.  The thing I find most interesting about the story is what comes next.

Then the Israelites said to Gideon, "Be our ruler! You and your son and your grandson will be our rulers, for you have rescued us from Midian." But Gideon replied, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD will rule over you! (Judges 8:22-23 NLT)

Gideon receives all kinds of praise and honor for what God had done.  The people tried to raise him up and make him King.  Gideon refused.  He knew what God was calling him to do, and it wasn't to be the ruler as king.  His role was to point everyone to the LORD as ruler and king.  That's exactly what he did.  In only one generation, though, power corrupted his family.

He had seventy sons born to him, for he had many wives. He also had a concubine in Shechem, who gave birth to a son, whom he named Abimelech. (Judges 8:30-31 NLT)

One day Gideon's son Abimelech went to Shechem to visit his uncles—his mother's brothers. He said to them and to the rest of his mother's family, "Ask the leading citizens of Shechem whether they want to be ruled by all seventy of Gideon's sons or by one man. And remember that I am your own flesh and blood!"  He went to his father's home at Ophrah, and there, on one stone, they killed all seventy of his half brothers, the sons of Gideon. But the youngest brother, Jotham, escaped and hid. Then all the leading citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo called a meeting under the oak beside the pillar at Shechem and made Abimelech their king. (Judges 9:1-2, 5-6 NLT)

His dad understood that leadership was about doing what the LORD wanted him to do.  Abimelech didn't get it at all.  Gideon had the opportunity to lead all of Israel and turned it down.  Abimelech tried to kill all seventy of his half-brothers to have the right to lead Shechem.  Shechem was a clan of the half-tribe of Manasseh.  It wasn't even a full tribe.  Manasseh made up one half of the representatives for Joseph.  Shechem was one sixth of that.  It would be like saying Gideon was offered the Governorship of the State of Indiana and turned it down.  His son, Abimelech, murdered all his brothers for the equivalent of becoming the mayor of Valparaiso.

Power corrupts.  It doesn't have to be a lot of power.  It doesn't even have to be real or achievable power.  The desire for power is all it takes to mess us up.  True leaders are humble people and willing to submit to the LORD themselves.  It is only then that they can lead the way God designed them to lead.

My point is this: What do you pursue?  
Do you pursue power, prestige, and control like Abimelech? 
Or do you pursue the peace that comes from knowing you are doing the will of God like Gideon?

No comments:

Post a Comment