Craig T. Owens

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The Israelites fought constantly with the Philistines throughout Saul’s lifetime… (1 Samuel 14:52). 

Have you ever worked in a hostile environment? I was involved with one organization where all of the staff members called the weekly meeting the “staff beating” instead of the staff meeting. This was largely because the senior leader started off every meeting by asking for problems that needed to be addressed, but then he “addressed” the problem by attacking the person who shared the problem. 

I was reminded of this recently when I was scrolling through YouVersion and saw that my son had highlighted 1 Samuel 14:52 that said that Saul’s reign as king was noted for the constant fighting. I added the comment, “I don’t think the definition of peace would ever include ‘fought constantly.’ How sad that Saul’s lack of leadership would keep his people constantly in conflict.” 

Make no mistake about it: It was his poor leadership that created this environment. We often read of his jealousy of anyone else who was successful, and we see that although he had a loyal army, he kept them bottled up. 

On the other hand, consider this statement about the reign of king Asa: “In his days the land was quiet for ten years. … He had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him rest” (2 Chronicles 14:1, 6). This peace and quiet and rest is directly tied to Asa’s obedience to God’s laws. 

A mark of a godly leader is one whose obedience to God fosters an environment of peace for his people. 

This is part 62 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here. And I would also encourage you to check out my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter, where I outline in more detail the characteristics of godly leadership. 

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