Weighed in the scales
Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
Maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Psalm 82:3
Read Daniel 5:22—30
I do not always remember this, but leaders all need security in their leadership positions. They are legitimised by election or appointment. They are inaugurated or inducted or anointed or crowned. That ceremony establishes a mutual bond between them and those they lead. The intent is that leader and led will honour each other, serve and support each other. Each should have a stake in the other. There may be symbols of all this, special clothes, a chain of gold such as Daniel has by the end of the story. So leaders are hedged about. It won’t only be leaders who wish to secure themselves. Plenty of interest groups, if not the whole society, will depend on this stability. If I were called into any form of leadership and surrounded by all that authority and security, I would be exposed no less to the judgement and direction of God. If anything, I may be more so.
Lord, the God of all true power and true authority, who has given the judgement of the living and the dead to your Son, when I am asked to lead then I am exposed to you and to your authority over me. I ask that I may lead as a humble servant. In my church, in my local community, in my nation, I pray that you will prosper all those who look to the needs of the humble, and that you check and restrain those who care only for their own interests.