I wonder if a hart ever drinks because he knows it is necessary or good or both. Or does he drink only when he feels like it; that is, when he is thirsty.

Surely a hart doesn’t wait to drink till he’s panting.

Too often, I do.

“Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy” (Proverbs 30:2,3).

Whose fault is it if I do not know God (as I ought and as He yearns to be known)?

Mark Roth’s

“I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord…That I may know him…. I follow after…. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:8, 10, 12, 14).

Are those under my authority at rest or restless?

Do those in my charge rejoice or recoil?

Are “my people” happy or hapless?

When God places me in authority, He expects me to bless others, not boss them around. He calls all leaders (dads, moms, ministers, bosses, teachers, managers, foremen, etc) to be shepherds, not lords.

Consider Proverbs 29:2 — “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”

How do I rate as a leader?