Leaders can become threatened when they allow the wrong influences in their lives.
Imagine someone you know comes to you one day saying, “You are my friend. We’ve known each other for years. Let’s have a cup of tea.”
You sit down together in a café, and the waiter brings you your drinks. But right before you drink your tea, your friend says, “Oh, wait a minute.”
And he takes out a dark little bottle from the recesses of his coat. While you are watching, he takes off the cap, pours a little bit into your tea and stirs it in.
Naturally you ask him, “What is this?”
“Oh,” he says, “it is something quite nice for your health.”
Then he puts the bottle down on the table. You see the picture of a skull and crossbones on the label. Underneath it, in screaming-red capital letters, it reads: “Poison: One Drop Can Kill an Elephant.”
Question: Will you drink what he offers you?
Sadly, too often we take in something just as toxic—not in our beverages, but in our conversations.
Who we listen to and where we get our information from are critically important. Often leaders are only told what others think they want to hear, even if it is just speculation.
There are always going to be people who bring evil reports and gossip. They may even do it in an effort to earn our favor and get on our side.
When we choose to listen to gossip, it can take root in our hearts. And then we begin believing the stories we hear, whether consciously or subconsciously.
Soon we start to think that the boss is favoring another person or someone is not really loyal to us. Our future feels uncertain. Then sadly, when we start behaving as though these statements are true, it breeds more fear and insecurity.
Not only that, we must be aware of people praising us and saying wonderful things about us all the time. In Luke 6:26, Jesus said, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you.” Flattery actually kills. Saint Augustine, an early church father, said it this way, “The adversary of our true blessedness layeth hard at us, every where spreading his snares of ‘well-done, well-done.’ ” *
Sometimes people will learn what to say to twist a leader’s thoughts to their own ends. On the surface, it may sound like gossipers and flatterers care about you and want to help you, but hidden in that “care” is tremendously destructive poison.
Trusting in Self
One of the most devastating reasons for leaders to feel threatened is because they begin to trust in their own strength and abilities instead of trusting in the Lord alone.
Over time it happens—we learn, we grow and we begin to rely on our past experiences and our skills instead of relying on the Lord. Although we wouldn’t say it outright, we begin thinking, I am somebody now. Why fast and pray to find out what God is saying? I can figure it out.
Imagine with me that you have an above-ground water tower, one that holds more than 5 million liters. If the tank depends solely on what it already has stored to supply water for all the people who live around it, it will quickly run dry. However, the water tank depends on more than its own supply. It depends on the vast supply of water under the ground.
In the same way, when we as leaders depend on ourselves, we are limited to our own current resources. Instead of putting our faith in God and tapping into a much greater supply of help, strength, energy, motivation and encouragement, we will find ourselves quickly running out of what we have, unable to meet the needs and the expectations on us.
It says in the Scripture, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:5). What a statement. Cursed be that individual, that man, that woman, who began so well, trusting God without any pride or arrogance, but now has come to the place of trusting in their own strength and ability.
When a leader does not have the inner godliness to meet the needs of the people around him, God may raise up someone like David to be the answer for the people. And it is natural for the self-reliant leader to feel angry, troubled and jealous when he sees them meeting needs he cannot meet.
Fellowship with the Lord
No matter what position of authority God gives you, there is one thing that guarantees insecurity in your leadership. It is not other people, it is not others’ misbehavior, it is not lack of money, it is not lack of recognition, it is not lack of degrees, it is not lack of opportunity—it is a broken relationship with the Living God. Without Him, you will be insecure.
*Source: Saint Augustine, The Confessions of S. Augustine (Oxford, 1853), p. 216.
