I Chronicles 11:2 And moreover in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel.
Resume of a Leader
Resumes are changing these days. There was a time when most people were not college educated. But, there has been a great change over the last fifty years, and now people feel compelled to get more education than just a college education. Yet, some of the most successful people I know are people who didn’t go to college. They have a gifting, hard work, and a vision of what can be done, and they just do it.
Whether you’ve ever read, received, or sent a resume, I Chronicles 11 is the resume of the leader I want to follow and the kind of leader I want to be. In verse 2, people came to David and said, “And moreover in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel.”
The first thing I see about David was that he served before he was asked. Was David king? No. But was David being a leader? Yes. He was not usurping authority, and he did give deference to King Saul. Leaders take action, and good leaders take orders. David did both. That’s the kind of leader I want to follow and be.
The second thing is in verse 5 where it says, “And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David.” These people told David that he wasn’t going to come into the city, but he came into the city which is now named for him. David acted when it wasn’t easy. That’s what that word “nevertheless” represents, taking action when it’s not the easiest thing to do.
The third thing that I see here is that David valued people more than things. David was a man of action, a man that rewarded action, and a man who cultivated men of action. His men were doers, but because they were doers they sometimes hazarded their lives in order to do what they thought was worthy of doing. Once, David was longing for water out of the well at Bethlehem. It was not a safe place for David to be, but two of David’s men had overheard him make that wish. They hazarded their lives to bring back the water to David. Verse 18 says that David “would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD.” He offered the gift, that water, to God. He didn’t see himself worthy of what had been done, and he realized that those men were more valuable than what they had accomplished.
What about you? Does this describe the kind of leader you are following? Does this describe the kind of leader you are? This is a resume of a man who was imperfect, but illustrates for us the qualities that ought to be dominant in our lives as we seek to serve others.