Should leaders be vulnerable and open with those they lead? - Vulnerability - TouchPoints

2 Chronicles 20:12[Jehoshaphat said] “O our God, won’t you stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help.”

Psalm 51:12-14Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you. Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.

Matthew 26:36-39Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, . . . He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

2 Corinthians 1:8We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.

Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, could not hide the fact from his people that he was overwhelmed by the attack coming against the kingdom of Judah. David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba and his virtual murder of Uriah were made public in a psalm for worship. Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane was openly shared with his disciples. And Paul did not hide his despair. The stereotype of the leader is a person who has it all together. The reality is that the leader is a person seeking to be faithful to God in a fallen world. They will often feel great anguish, and there are times when it is appropriate to share those feelings with their people.