Follow

I think David's defining moment as a leader of men was in 1 Samuel 23. It was an event that melded the hearts of his men with his.

David's distinguishing characteristic -the attribute that defined his character - was that he followed the heart of God. It was the thing that caught God's attention. It was David that said, "...my soul followeth hard after Thee..." - his lifestyle was marked by the way he submitted to leadership.

For a time, the way David followed God was evidenced by the way he followed those in authority over him. He obeyed his "commander-in-chief", King Saul - without question. I believe David saw Saul as an extension of God's authority and as long as he was under that rule, he led men, but he followed Saul . . . presumably, Saul was following God.

But Saul wasn't following God.

It is really interesting to see that even when Saul was acting purely from a selfish and evil point of view - as in the times that he sent David out on extremely risky missions and into dangerous battles in hopes that the enemy would kill him - God was moving on David's behalf and David always came out on top!

So the leadership example David left us - the thing that we should emulate - was his practice of submitting to the proper authority as a means of following God . . . . obeying that authority without question and letting God handle the outcome.

This is a point R. and I have stressed to our kids all their lives: that they should obey us without question now, so that when they are older it will be easy to obey God without question.

In chapter 23, things have changed: Saul has cut off the relationship between himself and David. And a band of men have gathered themselves to David - about 400 of them. They gravitated to David because they were discontent ... or in trouble ... or delinquent on their taxes and they were afraid.

When the opportunity arose for David and his recently formed militia to take offensive action and defend and save the city of Keilah - David turns directly to God (the other "authority" is no longer in place).

"Shall I go up?"

David would ask God that question time and time again. But I think this was the first time.

God's reply to him was "GO". But when David approached his men, they had a different idea - they were afraid. You see it was those wicked Philistines - the perpetual nemesis of Israel that was causing all the trouble for the city of Keilah; David's band of merry men weren't so merry as they explained to him that if they had been afraid of Saul and the armies of Israel - how much more would they be afraid of the Philistines!

...not a lot of hubris in this group at this time ...

David displayed the excellent leadership skill of listening to his men, and so he went back to God a second time to pose the former question.

Again, God answered in the affirmative and even elaborated a little - assuring David the He would deliver the Philistines into his hand.

Here's where the defining moment comes in...

There is no record that David went back to his men again to see if their opinion had changed - he did not lead by consensus - he did not wait for them to catch the vision or to see the "big picture".

Those men had to be shown. He had to show them non-questioning obedience.

They went into battle.

God delivered just as He said He would and the city was saved.

I think from that point forward, the chemistry of that group was changed forever. Their hearts became one with David's.

It was a "win under the belt" that would solidify their allegiance to David and their trust in his God.

Real leaders follow.