Readings for today: 2 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 33
All of us are leaders. Leadership begins with self. Learning to control our thoughts and desires and channel them to godly action. Leadership continues in the family. We lead our families as fathers and mothers and teach our children to walk in God’s ways. We lead at work as we use our influence - whether supervisor or employee - to impact the health and well-being of others and our organization’s future. We lead at church by the way we worship and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ. We lead in every sphere of life so here’s the critical question...what kind of leader are you? When the final analysis is in and the impact of your life is measured, will it be for good or for evil in the eyes of the Lord?
Manasseh reigned for over fifty years and in that time, “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.” (2 Kings 21:2) He reinstituted pagan idol worship, rebuilding the high places his father had torn down. He defiled the Temple by setting up altars to foreign gods. “He burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.” (2 Chronicles 33:6) In short, he did more evil in his reign than all the kings who had come before him and after he died, his son Ammon continued in his ways. It was the darkest period in the southern kingdom’s history. The people were lead astray and the nation would perish as a result. Everything rises and falls on leadership.
In 1994, an unholy alliance between the racist government of Juvenal Habyarimana and the “Hutu Power” promoting media run by Hassan Ngeze combined to create the conditions whereby a horrific genocide became possible. In all, the genocide claimed the lives of over 1.1 million people. Most of them were killed by friends, neighbors, even family members. A national trauma survey by UNICEF estimates that 80% of Rwandan children experienced a death in their family in 1994. 70% witnessed someone being killed or injured and 90% believed they would die. The Habyarimana government, aided and abetted by the French who supplied them arms and training, worked hard to gain control over the country as they prepared to implement their own version of Hitler’s “Final Solution.” As the international community turned their backs on Rwanda, evil was allowed to flourish and the results were beyond tragic. Everything rises and falls on leadership.
Paul Kigame could see what was happening in his country. He saw the signs of genocide and he organized a resistance. He led a rebellion against a racist government and a racist national media and, as a result, potentially saved hundreds of thousands of lives. He is rightfully called a hero. But his leadership didn’t stop there. He has worked hard to reintegrate the country. Establishing Unity and Reconciliation commissions where wrongs can be redressed, crimes confessed, forgiveness offered, and entire communities restored. This is perhaps his greatest accomplishment. Like Nelson Mandela before him, he refuses to allow hate to drive his leadership and his nation is reaping the benefits. (Of course, no leader is perfect. President Kagame’s intolerance for political opposition is a dark stain on an otherwise exemplary record.) Everything rises and falls on leadership.
How are you leading in your life today?
Readings for tomorrow: Nahum 1-3