We Need Leaders

It can be easy to give people a break when they make a mistake, if you think they simply do not know any better.  Maybe they have never been in a position to learn the right way to do something.  Or maybe they have not been paying attention to superiors who have been teaching them.

In Jeremiah 5, I see God trying to give His people the benefit of the doubt.  He says in verse 4, "They are only the poor, they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord or the ordinance of their God."

So, God in verse 5 says He will go the "great" (the spiritual leaders), as He wants to confirm that they know this "way of the Lord.  It is kind of rhetorical, as we know what He finds..."But they too, with one accord (pretty much unanimous!) have broken the yoke, burst the bonds." 

The leaders are the ones who have forsaken God, forgotten His ways, and have turned to themselves for guidance and sustenance.  No wonder the people were so far gone, they had followed leaders who were not looking out for them, leaders who had made excuses before God as to why they were like they were.

It is easy for us to look at this whole situation and feel indignant.  We could even feel some similarity with these people, as many so-called Christian leaders have long since led flocks astray, there are huge church groups and denominations that are more concerned with their own well-being, and theology has been forsaken along the way.

Yet we as sons and daughters of the King have God's Word.  Sure, we need leaders to step up, "to stand in the gap" as it were, and lead the way.  And when it comes to personal devotion to God, we as believers have all we need in God's Word.  It is all-sufficient for life and Godly practice, including our church, our families, how we deal with government, and so on. 

God did not pardon His people because they had wicked leaders.  Neither will He excuse my sinful choices.  I pray today for real maturity to recognize faults, for true daily confession of sin to Him, no excuses, just laying it out there for Him to deal with.  And then I pray for our own spiritual leaders in the church, and for dads to be those leaders in the home.  We desperately need more of each.

Holding Fast to the Name of the Creator