“Thus says Cyrus King of Persia: ‘All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me, and He has commanded me to build Him a House at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May the Lord his God be with him and let him go up!’”
2 Chronicles 36:23
At the end of seventy years of captivity, as prophesied by Jeremiah, God sent the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple using Cyrus King of Persia to accomplish His will. The declaration above by King Cyrus closes the book of Chronicles and opens the book of Ezra as God Sovereignly moves His people back to Jerusalem.
Leadership begins with God. He is the one who raises up and deposes. He is the one who works all things according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11), even using kings of earth to do it. Somehow King Cyrus understood this fact as he acknowledged that all the kingdoms of the earth were given to him from God. When John the Baptist’s disciples and some Jews had concern that Jesus was also baptizing, John said that “a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven” (John 3:27).
Whatever leadership you have been given has been graciously been given to you by God. Of course there are those who have taken leadership that was not theirs to take and they will one day give an account to God. But those who have been given the gift of leadership from God have a great responsibility to honor the Giver in their leadership. In your leading keep in perspective the One who gave you this calling. Like King Cyrus we should always acknowledge that our position came from God, not as a matter of pride, but with humility and a great sense of responsibility to use it and not abuse it. Abusive leadership, authoritarianism, manipulation, and corruption are found in leaders who do not know, or have forgotten that it was God who placed them there.
Every leader must follow The Leader. What God gives you to do you must do without full confidence and without apology. You must be the voice for God calling all others to follow you as you follow Him.
What has God called you to do and how can you motivate others to support you in the vision?
