Qualifications and Responsibilities of Leadership – Part II
From The HeartPublish date: 07/29/2012
I have counsel and sound knowledge, I have understanding, I have might and power. 15 By me kings reign and rulers decree justice. 16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges and governors of the earth. Proverbs 8:14-16 AMP
4. A great leader is one who is honest and truthful and who loves justice and righteous judgment.
You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 You shall not misinterpret or misapply judgment; you shall not be partial, or take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. 20 Follow what is altogether just (uncompromisingly righteous), that you may live and inherit the land which your God gives you. Deuteronomy 16:18-20 AMP
The Lord requires of leadership that they judge righteously and impartially, according to the laws of the land. They are NOT allowed to show favor to certain people in violation of the truth and the law. A great leader does not misinterpret the law or misapply judgment. A great leader is one who is not partial to, or favorable toward, only certain people. A great leader NEVER ever asks for or accepts a bribe.
And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brethren and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger or sojourner who is with him. Deuteronomy 1:16 AMP
Thus has the Lord of hosts spoken: Execute true judgment and show mercy and kindness and tender compassion, every man to his brother; 10 And oppress not the widow or the fatherless, the temporary resident or the poor, and let none of you devise or imagine or think evil against his brother in your heart. Zechariah 7:9-10 AMP
You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his cause. 7 Keep far from a false matter and [be very careful] not to condemn to death the innocent and the righteous, for I will not justify and acquit the wicked. Exodus 23:6-7 AMP
A great leader may NOT EVER pervert justice. There is NEVER a justification for perverting justice. A great leader does NOT disregard the rights of any person, for any reason. Leaders are bound by God’s law to execute justice - and not to delay it either. Deliberately condemning the innocent and acquitting the guilty is completely unacceptable to God. If you want to make God very angry, then call the wicked, good, and the good, wicked!
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent and shrewd in their own sight! 22 Woe to those who are mighty heroes at drinking wine and men of strength in mixing alcoholic drinks! — 23 Who justify and acquit the guilty for a bribe, but take away the rights of the innocent and righteous from them! 24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be like rottenness and their blossom shall go up like fine dust — because they have rejected and cast away the law and the teaching of the Lord of hosts and have not believed but have treated scornfully and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 5:20-24 AMP
Leaders who are arrogantly disrespectful of God and His laws will pay the price of His retribution! Leaders who get carried away by their own importance, and who are drunk on their own power - better beware. If they are a careless drunk, or covetous, or a glutton, or a philanderer, and they make the satisfaction of their own needs more important than doing the right thing, then it will be virtually impossible for them to do what is right. If you are transgressing God’s laws yourself, then you are not likely to apply justice in your judgment of others!
You need a clear head to judge wisely and to lead righteously. God forbids drunken leaders, because they always pervert justice. Because they have yielded to their carnality, and not held themselves to any decent standard, they can be either bribed and/or black-mailed to twist the law. Those leaders and judges who pervert justice for bribes, make no mistake, they will have a very bad ending.
5. A great leader is one who is not partial to, or favorable toward, only certain people.
These also are sayings of the wise: To discriminate and show partiality, having respect of persons in judging, is not good. 24 He who says to the wicked, You are righteous and innocent — peoples will curse him, nations will defy and abhor him. 25 But to those [upright judges] who rebuke the wicked, it will go well with them and they will find delight, and a good blessing will be upon them. Proverbs 24:23-25 AMP
You shall not be partial in judgment; but you shall hear the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it. Deuteronomy 1:17 AMP
A great leader sees people through God’s eyes and does not take advantage of them just because they can. A great leader does NOT disregard the rights of the powerless: an outsider, an orphan, a widow; a temporary resident, or a poor person. Justice must be applied according to truth and law, not according to a person’s station in life or what their life is worth in the eyes of man. In God’s eyes, ALL are equal, whether: rich or poor; old or young; pretty or ugly; male or female; master or servant; king or ordinary citizen. The Lord requires that law and justice be applied equally and impartially to all.
Cursed is he who perverts the justice due to the sojourner or the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. All the people shall say, Amen. Deuteronomy 27:19 AMP
He who oppresses the poor reproaches, mocks, and insults his Maker, but he who is kind and merciful to the needy honors Him. Proverbs 14:31 AMP
Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker, and he who is glad at calamity shall not be held innocent or go unpunished. Proverbs 17:5 AMP