What do you do when fingers are pointed to you? A story found in 1 Samuel 30, shows a principle when the people you are leading are pointing their fingers at you as the reason for the not so good situations that happen in their lives.
Then it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev and on Ziklag, and had overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire; and they took captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great, without killing anyone, and carried them off and went their way. When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. Now David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
1 Samuel 30:1-6
David and his men, during this time has been running away from Saul. To cut the story short, they settled in Ziklag, a place away from the reach of King Saul. David and his men were about to do battle against Israelites, but because the Philistine commanders believed that David might turn against them, they wanted David out of the battle, so David and his men went home. Upon reaching their homes, they found out that their city was burned, and all their women and children were taken captive by the Amalekites. David's men blamed him for this. They were so embittered that his men wanted to stone him to death. They pointed their fingers at David. They blamed David as the reason for this tragedy.
Now at this point, the character of a leader is truly tested. How the leader reacts will give away what he/she is made of. His/her response determines the convictions that he/she truly believes in.
Some leaders reacts to this situation by being bitter, quitting their post, leaving their subordinates hanging, blaming and taking it against the people their are leading. They become angry at the very people they are called to lead.
But David showed us the way to go:
When people blame you, find strength in God and continue to lead.
This is the response of genuine godly leaders. They lead even in bitterness and brokenness. They do not run away from these kind of situations and lead their people even when it hurts. They lead the people who are hurting them because they are leaders. They lead, even amidst tragedies, because they know that the people who look up to them, though they are pointing their fingers at them, are still looking up to them for leadership. They lead, because God has called them to lead.
What we read next is really amazing. David called for the priest, ask God for what to do, pursues the enemies and lead the battle against the Amalekites with all the strength he can muster. And they were able to take back what was theirs--their wives and their children livestock and other spoils.
I really want to believe that the strength of a leader is found not in the 'successful' and flouring seasons of an organisation. I want to believe that the strength of the leader is found best when the very people they lead attacks them and amidst all the pain and the bitterness and the hurt, they still find their strength in the God who has called to lead, and lead the people God has called them to lead.
