Sometimes I read things in the Bible that I don’t know what to do with. Huge, grand, sweeping statements that are so big, they’re hard to get my mind around. This is one of those…

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. -Romans 13:1

I have been familiar with this verse for a while. In fact, I’ve even preached on this verse to people. For some reason though, lately, I have felt the weight of it in a different way.

God establishes leaders.

We see this all throughout the Bible, not just here in Romans 13. A few examples… When given a chance to kill King Saul, David tells Abishai, “The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed.” In Daniel 5:21, Daniel says, “the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.” In Mark 10:45, Jesus tells James and John, who are asking to sit at his right and at his left in His kingdom, “but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” God is the one who establishes leaders.

If we really believe this, then as leaders, we should have an unreal amount of confidence. God Himself is the one who established us! There is incredible strength in letting that truth sink deep. We are secure. We do not need to feel threatened. We have nothing to prove. We are established, in the fullest sense of the word.

And at the same time, if we really believe this, we should have an incredible amount of humility. If God establishes leaders that means we don’t establish ourselves. These passages, if anything, show us that God appoints people to leadership not because they are the best people for the job, but because it is in line with His sovereign purpose. The only reason that we are in our positions of influence is because God has willed it so. That is humbling.

My prayer for my own life is that I would believe this truth. That God really does establish leaders. If I don’t believe this, I’ll be prone to lead out of insecurity and pride, leading people to me rather than to God.