"But when they said, 'Give us a king to lead us…'” 1 Samuel 8:6
My father-in-law was a very strong well-educated Christian. He was a graduate of a well-respected seminary. One day when talking about politics, he made a comment that Jimmy Carter could never get reelected as president because he was too good of a man. That was an interesting thought. So often you hear people saying that the problem with this country is our leaders. If only we had good Christian leaders, our problems would be solved. But why do we have the leaders that we do?
I thought back to that day in Jerusalem, when Pontius Pilate, asked the people to vote for either Jesus, King of the Jews, or a criminal, named Barabbas. In that election Barabbas won by a landslide. Why do we think it takes a Barabbas to get the job done? Why do we think that a good person doesn’t have a chance to do the job? Thinking about it, if a good person did become a leader, if Jesus became a leader would the people support Him or vote Him out?
I guess the answer is in ourselves. If we were in that crowd in Jerusalem, who would we have yelled for? Who are we going to vote for now? Maybe we need to stop looking for the Barabbas type persons and look for the heart of God.