It's Complicated(S1) : WK 5 - WED
1 Samuel 18:7
This was their song:
“Saul has killed his thousands,
and David his ten thousands!”
Coming back to this text today. This is quite a clever turn of phrase, but it is not helpful in the relationship between Saul and David. The women were coming out of their homes and singing this song, which makes me think it was perhaps already popular in the cities and towns where David and Saul had to travel.
Can you imagine if you had a subordinate doing well, and this was being sung about him/her? How would that make you feel?
Throughout my career as a pastor, I always tried to surround myself with amazing people —people who were smarter than me and could run circles around me. This not only kept me humble but also kept me on my toes and made me a better leader. However, it also meant that I needed to rejoice in their successes as much as my own.
This can be hard, especially when someone else gets the accolades that used to come to you. You have to learn to humble yourself a bit and accept the idea that others can do things as well or better than you can. This is a great thing to learn and can make you a more generous and benevolent person. To take joy in their successes means that you have been leading well and helping them achieve their goals.
Saul did not see it this way, and the issue became one that had to be handled with suspicion and anger.
At work, it is easy to try and make yourself look good, and sometimes that means making someone else look bad. This is never a good leadership position to be in. The best thing we can do is make sure that we can support those who do well and try to enable those who are struggling to get better. This is good leadership. When you experience jealousy at work, you need to make sure you can bring that other person into the success you are experiencing if at all possible. In this way, you are showing that benevolence that God has shown you!
This was their song:
“Saul has killed his thousands,
and David his ten thousands!”
Coming back to this text today. This is quite a clever turn of phrase, but it is not helpful in the relationship between Saul and David. The women were coming out of their homes and singing this song, which makes me think it was perhaps already popular in the cities and towns where David and Saul had to travel.
Can you imagine if you had a subordinate doing well, and this was being sung about him/her? How would that make you feel?
Throughout my career as a pastor, I always tried to surround myself with amazing people —people who were smarter than me and could run circles around me. This not only kept me humble but also kept me on my toes and made me a better leader. However, it also meant that I needed to rejoice in their successes as much as my own.
This can be hard, especially when someone else gets the accolades that used to come to you. You have to learn to humble yourself a bit and accept the idea that others can do things as well or better than you can. This is a great thing to learn and can make you a more generous and benevolent person. To take joy in their successes means that you have been leading well and helping them achieve their goals.
Saul did not see it this way, and the issue became one that had to be handled with suspicion and anger.
At work, it is easy to try and make yourself look good, and sometimes that means making someone else look bad. This is never a good leadership position to be in. The best thing we can do is make sure that we can support those who do well and try to enable those who are struggling to get better. This is good leadership. When you experience jealousy at work, you need to make sure you can bring that other person into the success you are experiencing if at all possible. In this way, you are showing that benevolence that God has shown you!
- Has anyone ever been jealous of you at work? How did that make you feel?
- Have you ever been jealous that someone was succeeding at your job?
- Does one person doing well always mean that no one else can? Or is there a way to make a team approach work?
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