2 Chronicles 34:33
And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.
When you read throughout the Scriptures, you will often see people who did right as long as the leader was alive, but as soon as the leader passed away, it seems as if the people strayed from what they did under that leader. Some may look and say that this man did a poor job in training his people, but I don't believe that is the case. Others may say that the people were serving a man and not God, but again, I don't believe this is the case.
The verse above is one of the illustrations of God’s people doing right in Josiah’s reign. The key to this verse is the statement, And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers. Why is it that these people only served God while Josiah was alive? What was it that caused these people to quickly stray once Josiah died? The answer to these questions is Josiah’s great leadership ability.
Throughout my life, I have had the privilege to be around great leaders. I think of men like Dr. Tom Malone, Dr. Lee Roberson, and Dr. Jack Hyles; God used each of these men in a great way. However, some would say that those they led were men-worshippers, which I adamantly disagree. After these men died, the people they led strayed from what these men people taught and preached. Were the people worshipping these men? No! The fact that these men were able to keep their works growing and walking the old paths without compromise with such weak people who strayed from what they were taught after these men died shows their great leadership ability.
Let me explain this great truth about these men and the leaders in the Scriptures whose followers strayed after they died. Great leadership is able to pull out the gold in their followers and let that gold shine brighter than their weaknesses. Great leaders are able to bring the best out of weak people and make weak people look like strong people. It is not that these followers were men worshippers; it is that their leader made their followers look so strong that people did not see the weakness in the followers.
Let me ask, is not this what God does with His children? Everyone is a sinner; therefore, everyone has great weaknesses. However, God is able to bring the best out of people, and the best that God brings out tends to hide their weaknesses. Does this make God a poor leader that those who follow Him still have weaknesses that they don't deal with? Absolutely not! In fact, it makes God a strong and great leader because He is able to bring the best out of weakness.
If you are a leader, you must stop looking for perfect people and do your job to bring the best out of weak people. You will never have perfect people because there is no such thing. However, you do have weak people that have strengths that God could use, and your job is to bring out that strength to let it shine brighter than the weaknesses of those you lead.
If you are a follower, learn while your leader makes your strength shine to strengthen your weakness. If you will learn to strengthen your weak areas, God could use you to lead others so that you can bring their strengths out of them.