In the past, even while Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the LORD your God said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.'" – 1 Chronicles 11:2

Today's Scripture Reading (May 18, 2022):  1 Chronicles 11

For some reason, we aspire to be the boss. Maybe we dream of being able to set our own hours and the riches that must follow if we were the ones running the show. We often miss the endless hours spent working when we are the ones in charge of everything. Or the increased stress that exists over the slightest problems. And often, being the boss doesn't bring us endless riches but debt and the ulcers over how to make payroll or pay other necessary business expenses. One of the complaints I hear from those who are bosses is that they dream of the ability to leave the office and let the problems remain there and just enjoy life away from work. But bosses seldom get that chance. Regardless of where they are or what they are doing, the boss is constantly on the job, and the problems are theirs to solve.

The people come to David to ask him to be their King. It must have been a phenomenal act of encouragement for Israel's leader. They remind him that even in the days of Saul, he was the true military leader. And the people seemed to know that God had promised David that he would be the shepherd of the people. And that is part of David's problem. Back when he was the shepherd of the sheep, God had called David to be the Shepherd of Israel. And a shepherd was never the boss.

In ancient times, shepherds were employees or younger family members. David had been a shepherd in his father's family, but he was in no way the leader of the family. He was simply the youngest and the least significant of the sons of Jesse. David went out to the sheep because he was told to go. He didn't have a choice. David was a shepherd.

And David was now God's shepherd. And everything would be okay as long as he remembered that he was not the one in charge. He answered to God. The problems didn't belong to him, and neither did the successes. All of that was simply in the hands of his God. The God of Israel was in charge, and David was merely his shepherd, his employee.

There would be times when David would forget that. When David sinned with Bathsheba, he forgot that he was supposed to be the shepherd of Israel and started to believe that he was the king. It was a mistake that would haunt David for the rest of his life. And if he had just remembered that God and the people had called him to be a shepherd, it might have never happened.

A shepherd is still the image that we have of church leaders. We are not the boss but the servants of those within our circles of influence. And we are always answerable to God, who is our true King today, just as he was the true King of David's Israel.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 12