Page 37 - Empowering Missional Artists - Jim Mills.pdf

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This gifted leader of leaders, this apt military strategist, this sensitive artistically talented

Psalmist and shepherd of Israel, went down because he abdicated his role as leader. As

leaders, the enemy of our lives looks for every opportunity to bring us to ruin. And in so doing,

he subversively intends to undermine God’s purposes. We can only speculate as to why David

did not go out to battle. It does not say, however, through his choice, he positioned himself for

ruin. In one of the most well-known Psalms, David wrote of his horrific failure. The AV version

says it poetically well, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according

unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.” (Psalm 51:1) In this

passage there are a multitude of things that could be noted, but one very important point stands

at the beginning of this Psalm: “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the

prophet came unto him, after he had gone into Bathsheba.” (Psalm 51) This confession wasn’t

hid away and only discovered a hundred years after his death in his secret journal. No, David

wrote his repentance in a contemporary hymn and then sent it to the choir director to be sung

before all of Israel. The enemy of his soul only thought that he had finally done-in “this man after

God’s own heart.” However, this transparency is another indication of what God saw in David’s

heart and what He is still looking for among leaders. This cannot be taught. It has to be lived

and learned through the crucible of life.

The last characteristic I wish to focus on, is one that is revealed throughout his poetic

writings. First let me say, that I do believe in the absolute trustworthiness of God’s written Word.

Being raised conservative evangelical I have held to the inerrancy of the scriptures since I was a

boy and still do. However, I believe that the 75 Psalms that David penned were his creative

expressions and they were not manually dictated to him. He wrote his heart and God said, ‘print

it.’ Why? Because God wanted us to grasp something of what He could see, the things He saw

in David’s heart that line up with what He is looking for. Actually, you can find this point in same

Psalm 51 that was just referred to: “Behold, you desire truth in the innermost being...” (Ps 51:6)