I Won't Back Down

A few years ago I was at an outdoor concert called "Hills Alive" in Rapid City, South Dakota. The final band was Mercy Me, and they covered an old Tom Petty Song "I Won't Back Down". Here are some of the lyrics: Hey baby/There ain't no easy way out/Hey I will stand my ground/And I won't back down. I am not a Tom Petty fan, but the lyrics to the song could be an anthem for spiritual leadership.

Throughout Scripture, there are examples of people of God who chose to push through overwhelming obstacles and stand their ground. David is one of the most obvious. When he faced Goliath, he was out-matched, inexperienced, unqualified, and too young. The easy thing to do would have been to quit, go home, and leave it up to others. I believe it was more than a testosterone-filled aggression that drove him to stand his ground. It was his passion for God that gave him the ability to see beyond the situation, and a level of faith in God that surpassed all the other so called soldiers around him. This type of persistence and faith, in my opinion, are prerequisites to spiritual leadership. David passed the test and it prepared him to be the spiritual leader of a nation. My guess is that if David would have failed this test, it would have at least delayed his inheritance of the throne or Israel.

God uses resistance and pressure to prepare us for spiritual leadership as well. Embrace it and watch God come through! Today, I am choosing to stand my ground...and I won't back down.