Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them.
– Nahum 3:18
That is a really important verse and perspective on leadership. God, speaking directly to the King of Assyria, through Nahum, says, “Your shepherds, the people who are supposed to be leading your people, are asleep. Your nobles are slumbering. And as a result, the people that you’re entrusted to lead are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them”.
Nahum 3:18 is a call for awareness in leadership.
It is a dangerous thing when the leaders among particular people are asleep. When they are not caring well for the people they lead. And think about what this means. Obviously, it’s not just they’re physically asleep. Although that could be the case too. But they’re not aware of what the people need. And they’re not aware of the reality of the situation that people are in. And they’re not committed to doing whatever they can to best lead the people in that situation in light of the reality they’re surrounded by.
Now, you think about this picture playing out in leadership in multiple ways. Let’s think, well, first of nations. Like Nahum 3:18 leads us to pray… Just like 1 Timothy 2 tells us to pray for leaders in high positions that they would not be asleep. They would have their eyes open to reality, to see who God is, to see what people actually need. And to lead and love and care for them, do justice for them well.
Like we all want presidents, prime ministers, and leaders in the world to be aware of reality. And to lead us in what is good. And we want the same in companies or corporations, or organizations. So Nahum 3:18 should lead us to pray for the leaders of organizations, companies, corporations, and even employers that we might have. For all of those who are in charge of leading a group of people.
Nahum 3:18 challenges the leaders of the Church to remain aware.
And then obviously, this should lead us to pray for shepherds, pastors in God’s Church to be awake. For them to be aware of who God is, what God is doing, what the church needs. And to lead the church lovingly according to his Word.
And so let’s pray for all kinds of leaders. Whenever you think about leaders in your life, teachers, bosses, presidents of corporations or organizations, presidents of countries or nations, pastors and elders, and overseers and the church, God, we pray for the leaders in our lives. We pray that you would help them to wake up, to see what you see, and to lead in ways that are good for us and lead in ways that are good for others. God, that you would help them not to be casual with their leadership, to slumber in their leadership in a way that leaves those they lead scattered with none to help them and guide them and teach them, and lead them well.
God, we pray for good leadership in our lives for all the different leaders that come to our minds. And God, we pray for any leadership capacity you have entrusted to any of us. We pray, God, you’d help us to not be asleep, help us to see like you see and lead according to what is good for the people you’ve entrusted to our care that they would not be scattered with none to shepherd, lead, or guide them well.
This verse challenges community leaders to become aware.
God, we pray that you’d help any of us who are in leadership positions to lead well. And God, we pray this specifically over pastors, shepherds, elders, and overseers in your church. We pray today for the pastors of our churches that you would give them wisdom, humility, grace, and strength to lead well, wisely, joyfully, and selflessly. And we pray that for pastors in your church.
And oh, God, I know we’ve already mentioned it. We pray this for presidents. We pray this for the leaders of our country in different capacities, lawmakers, and judges. God, we pray that you would help them to lead wisely and to do justice for those they lead.
And we pray all of this in light of 1 Timothy 2, so that the gospel might be free to spread in every nation and every country through the church among all people.
Prayer for the Eritrean Trigre People
God, we pray today for the Eritrean Trigre people of Eritrea, knowing that there has been so much political conflict surrounding the Eritrean Trigre and Ethiopian Trigre. God, we pray that you would give wisdom, common grace to all kinds of leaders in such a way that the gospel is free to spread specifically among this Muslim people group, the Eritrean Trigre of Eritrea. For all million of them, we pray, oh God. They are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them. Please, draw them in through the power of the gospel and raise up, we pray, leaders, pastors among them to lead more and more Eritrean Trigre to life in you.
We pray all this according to your Word in Nahum 3:18. In Jesus’ name, in the name of the one Leader and Lord over all leaders who alone is our hope and our joy and our life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
