With upright heart, he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.
– Psalm 78:72
What a picture of King David. What a description of his leadership. “With upright heart, he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.” When I read that, I certainly think about my life as a pastor. And my desire to lead with an upright heart that shepherds people and guides them with skill to know and walk with God. But I don’t think this versus just for pastors like me. I think it’s for leaders in any area of life.
Psalm 78:72 is a calling for leaders in any area of life.
I think about leadership in parenting. As a parent, I want to, with upright heart, shepherd my kids’ hearts and guide them with a skillful hand. Or I think about any group of people that you lead, that you influence. Don’t you want to lead that group of people with an upright heart and skillful hand? I think about one of my children who’s a leader on one of his teams. I pray that he’ll lead with an upright heart and direct and guide… Do the things he does as a leader, with a skillful hand.
And so I just want to pray for these characteristics over us in any leadership roles we have, and then to pray this over those who lead us in any way. Think about people who lead you in any way, at home, in a church setting, in a business setting, whatever it might be. Don’t you want to be led by people with upright hearts who are skillful in their leadership? So let’s pray.
God, we pray for these characteristics in any leadership capacity that you entrust to us. We pray that you’d help us to lead with upright hearts before you. God, help us to realize that the people we lead, that their greatest need from us is a clean, close, pure, humble heart before you. God, we pray that you would draw us closer and closer to yourself. Conform our hearts to your heart, and in this way, make us better leaders. With upright heart, help us to shepherd people, help us to care for people well, to guide people well, to counsel people well, to encourage or instruct, motivate people toward good, toward their flourishing and their thriving in you.
Psalm 78:72 encourages us to seek the wisdom to lead effectively.
And we pray that you’d help us to do that with skill in whatever area we are leading them in. God, help us to be good leaders. And God, we pray for leaders like this around us and leaders like this in our lives. We pray that as we think of different people who we are following right now in any capacity, God, we intercede for them. We pray that they would have upright hearts, that they would shepherd and care for us and others they lead well and guide us and others with skill.
God, we pray this for government leaders. We pray you give them upright hearts to care well for the people that they’re leading and to guide them with skillful hands. God, we pray for that grace in leaders all around us, and for this grace in our own lives as leaders. And as we pray this, Jesus, we praise you as the perfect Leader. We are so thankful that you are our Lord and King, that we can gladly, without question, hesitation, or reservation, follow you wherever and however you lead us. God, help us to trust you and obey you all day long today because you are the perfect leader. And God, help us to point people to Jesus as the perfect leader around us today.
Prayer for the Kumhar People
And God, we pray for the spread of Jesus as Lord around the world. For the Kumhar people of Pakistan, 4 million of them, no known followers of Jesus among them. God, we pray that the name of Jesus and the truth of Jesus and the loving leadership of Jesus will be made known among the Kumhar people of Pakistan. Please, oh God, bring it about, we pray, for their good, that they might be shepherded and guided by your skillful hand. Lord Jesus, please cause it to happen. Use our lives toward that end and however you want. God, we pray all this according to your Word in Psalm 78:72 in Jesus’ name, in the name of the one who shepherds us today with upright heart and guides us today with skillful hand. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all 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, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
